>> welcome back to camp hope, at the mine in the desert where the sun is slowly descending behind mt. stuffed full of copper and gold and silver. that is the reason why these miners came here. the demand for these metals, especially copper, and a booming international economy in china and india -- this mine was reopened, which it should not have been because of its safety record. these miners went down in order to harvest copper, take the money, and get on with it. the rest, as you know, is history. i can tell you that the rescue operation is the best good news story in the world in some time.

miner 27, a man caled fran klin lobos, is about to get into that capsule. we have got steps of a biography about all these men. they are in their own ways characters, all completely different, all with totally different lives, brought up in different places. some are local, from copiapo. others came from far away to do work. franklin was a former footballer in the local league. because of that, he attracted the attention of david villias, a player who was in the winning world cup team. he got interested in franklin

lobos because his father and grandfather were also miners in spain. he has sent franklin a signed t- shirt down into the mine while this was going on. that cheered franklin up to no end. anyway, franklin is getting ready to board a rocket through the birth, the capsule the fenix. i have just spoke to one of the senior mining officials here who told me he was pretty confident this whole thing would be wrapped up with the last miner coming to the surface by midnight, foreman of the mine, the man who has been the prince of darkness underground in the best way, the sergeant major who has kept everything together in that tavern. he is going to be the last one to come up, by agreement.

that means this whole operation will not have lasted 24-hours, exactly half as long as initially predicted. things still can go wrong in theory, but so far this shuttle, this capsule, has been smoother than most london commutes back and forth. like clockwork, speeding up all the time. bologna, i can see one of the families -- below me, i can see the family of daniel herrera. these people are going to look toward their normal lives, which they put on hold while this operation was on going. these families will now return to their previous existence. enough of me. let us hear from andrew harding, our correspondent, one

of the many. he has produced a remarkable piece of television summing up the events of the day and the night. let us watch. >> like an astronaut, the very first rescue work, close to plunge half a mile into a mountain. a gentle kick and a parking blessing from the president. then, abruptly, like a tardis or lunar lander, at the capsule appears in the underworld. somewhere beneath, is anxious father florencio avalos. then, lift off. imagine the claustrophobia and

the anticipation. this is 8-year-old and violet -- 8-year-old buy list. her dad is just home from a long trip. -- this is 8-year-old violet. her dad is just wrong from a long trip. -- just home from a long trip. [applause] the first miner is safe. listen to the ecstatic response here at camp hope, a roar of relief and the like that must surely be rippling around the world. this most phenomenal of rescue operations has got off to a very promising start. an hour later, another from the deep. "vamos, vamos, vamos" -- "go,

go, go." his wife recognizes the boys. he has brought some rocks with him as souvenirs. one for the president. congratulations to the man at the top. t,"t until we are all ou mario replies. so much strain from two months underground. the marathon of hugs just beginning here. so it goes on, one every hour. [applause] in the reception area, a glimpse

of the private reunion. how bruised will some of these families be by their shared torments? "i have been with the devil," says mario. "but i grabbed god's hands. i never doubted he would bring me out of their." -- out of there." in campeau, nobody wanted to miss a second. just before dawn, another cluster of hope. the family of the oldest trapped miner, 63-year-old matio gomez. there are no words for an event like this. silence at the tunnel entrance. a minor since the age of 12 dismounts. -- a miner since the age of 12

dismounts. he was asked how he feels by the president. did you get emotional? "i am fine," he says. he just wanted to reach the top. "we have lived a magical evening," says president pinera, "a date when like the dark -- when light beat dark, when hope beat dispair." sun, the next miner swaps his rock prison from another happy ending. brought back from the death by the chilean government. andrew harding, bbc news at the san jose mind. -- mine.

>> we are watching live pictures of the scene just up the hill from here, the san jose mine, where the rest operation has cut into its final phase. the man who we just saw disappearing up the spout in the capsule is the 27 thought minor to be freed from his underground granite prison, where he and the others have stayed for 69 days. franklin lobos will be famous for a few minutes as we describe who he is and what he did. in this case, he was a former football player in the locally here, very talented on the pitch, but gave it up to earn money as a miner. you can earn $20,000 a year here, maybe a bit more. he got a little bit more in this mine because they had to pay them for the fact that the safety record was so dismal.

that is a price they ended up paying, as we all know. franklin, as he travels to the service to be met with family members and rescue workers -- laurence golborne -- franklin was a recipient of a t-shirt signed by david villas, a barcelona player. his parents and grandparents were also miners. he came from a family of miners but ran away to play football. franklin lobos ran away from football to go underground and mine. he is 53 years of age and a

driver. he will be taken by helicopter to where they already have 27 installed in the hospital. they will keep him there for a few days and then he will be released back into morality. -- into normality. that could be a tricky affair after these miners have lived together in dangerous and close circumstances, learning to live together like a band of brothers in a time of war. they now have to deal with the challenging reality of family life. for some it will be relief. for others it will be a challenge. it will always be a very individual story, and probably one that we will not ever cover until we read what happens. that will be truly fascinating to see how they fare. let us face it. at the end of the day, this has

been an iconic story not just about human entrapment but about human resilience. what happens to you when you are stuck 2,000 feet under? what happens to your mind? what happens to your soul? what happens above ground with all the people who love you and all the people whose job it is to get you out? that is what we have seen at camp hope over the last two months, and it has been a story worth telling, and certainly one we will all remember. that is carolina lobos, the daughter of franklin, looking extremely fearful, waiting to greet her father as he comes up from the ground. they have all said they want to eat a meal when they get out. not that they have been eating badly, but it has been healthy food. they would like a nice little empanada or a bottle of white

wine or beer, which has been denied them for various medical or psychological reasons while there were underground. as the sum falls at camp hope at the san jose mine. -- as the sun falls at camp hope that the san jose mine- -- as the sun falls at camp hope at the san jose mine. my colleague is in copiapo, outside the hospital. >> this is a town 50 kilometers away. they are brought to this hospital and kept in two words on the second and third wards, which have curtained windows. it is very dark, like a cinema. the men have not seen some light in more than two months.

doctors are concerned about damage to their eyes. they are also worried they may have picked up skin infections because the conditions were hot and humid, 90 degrees fahrenheit and 90% humidity. they were there for a very long time. there was a lot of dust in that environment, so doctors are worried about one infection. they are being brought down to the third floor to have chest x- rays to check for any problems. they are having a physical and psychological tests. they will be in for 48 hours each. if they are healthy then, there will be released. doctors want to do a full evaluation to make sure they are fully on the road to recovery. the health minister indicated that those who have come here so far seem to be in pretty good shape, but they want to make sure they are not released for other problems to crop up in the future. a short while ago, the miners who are here have their first meal of side of the mind. they were on a near starvation diet for the first 17 days of

their entrapment because they had no contact with the outside world and very few russians to get them through. they are having a spoonful of tuna and a small cup of milk every day. after that, when contact was made and a supply tube was drilled, there were having better food and doctors could control what they were eating to get them back to help again. they are doing the same thing again. for lunch, they were given rice, chicken and cream, and yogurt. >> there you have the menu that awaits them. it has been an extraordinary day. it was an extraordinary night last night. it is going to be another extraordinary night. we expect the last few miners, the last five miners to be released in the next few hours. they are confident and hopeful that all this will end before midnight tonight, which would make this a 24-hour rescue operation and 69 days of

captivity underground. back to you in london. >> thanks very much. matt frye in chile. this is chris embly in london. we do not want to miss anything. we wait for number 27, franklin lobos. his doctor -- a big smile. -- his daughter, a big smile. dborn, thee golbgor mining minister, has been the star of the show. he has not done any sleep. you can see his jacket. he did not want to miss anything. fenix is rising at the surface.

we get a warning from when the polyglot is taken off the table -- pulley block is taken off the cable. >> a regional football star who left because he was facing hard times financially and wanted to see one of his doctors through university. a local star. -- see one of his daughters through university. >> he got a football jersey from daniel villas. >> and no. 27. let us listen to his welcome. [applause] [laughter]

>> [speaking spanish] >> the mood is visibly likening here as they get near the end -- the mood is visibly lightening here as they get near the end. [applause] >> of course, despite what they have achieved, which is bringing 27 men 622 meters up, about two dozen feet from below the ground -- something that has never been done before. [applause] >> [speaking spanish] >> they always just have this awkward moment where they have to be patient, but they always

showed great patience. >> how must that feel? [applause] >> six more miners to come up and the crew of the rescue team, but everybody we reckon will be up very shortly.

[chanting] [cheering] >> that is the president, of course. >> each one of these has been different. that is the first one we have seen. >> lobos a regional football star. he left because we are told he was facing hard times financially. he wanted to put his daughters

through university. one of his daughters meeting him just there. he is 58. to come to27th miner the surface. >> you get the impression that none of these men and women working around the mine ever tire of the sight of each one coming up. >> the president closely studying the football. >> it feels almost normal now that we have seen 27 of these, but it is almost extraordinary what is going on, and once it is

over it will seem almost unreal. >> remember that a lot of these people have spent the time in the last couple of months communicating with the miners, which is why a lot of this is like seeing old friends, but i think without being sentimental it is a bond that nobody outside of this group can feel and that presumably is going to stay with them for life. >> he is supposed to get onto a stretcher. >> reluctantly. [laughter] still with ball.

>> this whole thing has been surreal from start to finish, right from a dreadful dark 17 days to see and no. 27, franklin -- to see number 27, franklin lobos, to come out with a football, to be given a signed football, which he is not letting go of even on the stretcher. >> he is going to a hospital in copiapo nearby, where many of the miners are from. that hospital has beds waiting. >> all of this happens just away from the camera, off to the left. the capsule fenix has been readied again and will very quickly moved back down, ready for number 28, who is richard

villarroel. there it goes. the capsule was already in the shaft and it begins its descent. there are six miners left to bring up, plus to rescuers. this is not all over when the final miner comes up. there were two rescuers lowered down at the very beginning of this operation, almost 24 hours ago, and went to assist with the loading up of each miner into the capsule. for obvious reasons, they will be the last two to bring up. it will not be over with the 33. there are 35 men to be brought up almost 700 meters down below. this extraordinary circus, this extraordinary camp which spreads over the hills of this part of

the chilean upland desert. >> you are feeling as you watch it that this is a technological feat. it has never been done before in mining history, but it looks so ramshackle when you see people bashing pins around the police and see the state of the -- thend the pully aney and see state of the capsule. it seems amazing that this is working so smoothly, but it is. >> there were relatively minor concerns of the door on the capsule not quite fit improperly. that is all over. here we are moving on from the initial triage containers, the sheds set up for the triage operation.

they can now be flown off to a hospital. >> thanks for being with us on this bbc news special. >> hello and welcome. >> see the news unfold, get the top stories from around the globe and click to play video reports. go to bbc.com/news to experience the in-depth, expert reporting of "bbc world news" online. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. and union bank.

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