on august 5th, 2010, an underground mine collapsed, rocking the chilean desert and trapping 33 copper miners half a mile below. for 17 days the miners didn't know if they would live or die. >> translator: myself, i was already dead. i was alive, but i was dead. >> and as their limited food supply ran out, an ugly darwinian reality surfaced. >> the devil came to visit us. we weren't alone. there was an evil presence. i personally felt there was an evil presence. >> soon the miners' thoughts

turned to the ultimate taboo. >> translator: we could have easily eaten one of our companions. i always thought it could happen. >> and now, the inside story of their darkest days. "17 days buried alive." for 17 days, the chilean miners had no contact with the world above. they feared they would never be found. die of hunger or thirst, become entombed, forgotten. until now, they had a sworn pact not to speak publicly about what happened during those 17 days. this is their story, as told by six of those miners. there were no video cameras during those 17 days, so to document what happened, some of their fellow miners re-enact their horrible moments below. it is a tale of survival and endurance, bringing to the fore mankind's best attributes and some of his worst.

that august morning as the miners began their hour-long drive down into the mine, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. the copper mine at san jose was infamous and even paid higher wages to compensate for a bad safety record. for mario, that extra money supported his goal to bring his family out of the debilitating poverty he grew up with. >> translator: i had to work to feed myself from the age of 13. i don't want my son to go through the same. i want him to grow up with a father to give him an education so that he can become an important person, a professional. >> samuel avalos was new to the

mining life after hustling on the streets selling cds. mining provided him with his first regular wage. >> translator: i loved that mine. i loved the risk, the danger of the roof, the explosives, the machinery, the trucks, the smoke, crazy stuff. but i loved it. >> for victor, the dangerous state of the mine was a constant concern, since his job was to reinforce weak sections of the mine's five miles of tunnels. >> translator: i had been warned about that mine, but because the payment was good, i just went. we started to see irregularities in the hill. it made noises, but people said that was normal. after a bit, we didn't pay much attention to it any longer.

because after three or four times you get used to it. one adapts oneself to the mine. >> translator: i drive a 450 tore rowe scoop my boss was down there guiding me with his lamps. my first cut was perfect, and the second one. then on the third cut, my boss started complaining. jess tick gesticulating. so i get off the machine angrily. i go over to him and ask, what's the matter? he shouts, "take out your earplugs!" so when i take them out, my ears felt like they burst. >> translator: the rumble began. it sounded as if there was a war inside the mine.

i began to tremble. i don't know if it was fear or a terror of dying. >> no one was even sure how many men were still in the mine. victor remembers working his way up the main tunnel, which miners called the ramp. >> translator: we continued on the truck up the tunnel. then we saw everything was blocked. there were big stones. the hill was still making noises. you could see the worry on everyone's faces. some went silent and shrunk back. they worried if they'd get out

some were stronger than others. i went quiet at that point, answering my own questions. >> translator: i told myself, that's it, this is where i die. this is as far as i go. coming up, rescue workers arrive, and in a race against time, scramble to device a plan to save the 33 trapped miners. alert.

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over 2,000 feet above the trapped miners, the first

rescuers were arriving. with no accurate geological maps of the mine, they had to improvise as they tried to work out where the survivors might be located. [ speaking spanish ] >> with the mountains still unstable, the first rescuers drove down the main tunnel to see if there was a way through to any survivors. [ speaking spanish ] >> back at the mine entrance, a manager read a roll call of the names of the 33 missing, feared dead.

>> far below, the miners found their way to the mine's emergency shelter. there they were able to establish for the first time who had been trapped. there were 33 of them. mario sepulveda prayed for inspiration. >> translator: dear lord, give me the chance to live, to bring up my son. i stuck that prayer up there, in my soul and in my heart. and my daughter, my beautiful 19-year-old. i thought on that and became fixated on getting out of there. >> sepulveda led a team to

inspect the escape shafts. carlos barrios remembered what they discovered. the shafts had not been properly maintained, and large sections of the escape ladders to the surface were missing. >> translator: i saw there were holes. i reached out and grabbed the ladder. rocks started falling all around me. then i realized a big rock had fallen past me, and i couldn't go any further. >> translator: they said, man, you know what? we're screwed. this thing is full of rubble, completely full of dirt and water. so we yelled up, get down here now, man, right now. >> translator: some thought we'd be there for a few days. i don't remember desperation then, and we began to think about food. >> the men were expecting to find at least two days' supply

of stored food in the shelter as required by mine regulations. the mine's managers had once again failed to prepare properly for an emergency. >> translator: there was hardly anything. cans of tuna, a can of salmon, some crackers, all very bad. there was a lot of cutlery, forks and knives, but nothing to eat. >> translator: i knew that place like the back of my hand. i was one of the better known among the miners. i was the oldest of the 33. a granddad. we organized ourselves. we cleared the ramp, made our beds. we talked things through, how we might get out. what to do.

>> the 33 men had to accept there would be no way out that night, or maybe ever. this mine might become their tomb. >> translator: i slept, but with one eye open, watching. you should have heard that silence, a silence from hell, total silence. >> as the men tried to sleep below, on the surface, the rescuers were using seismic tests to determine the extent of the damage. it was revealed that eight separate levels of the mine had collapsed on top of each other. a rock fall the size of the empire state building. wives and relatives of the missing from the nearby town of copiapo began to show up,

including lily gomez, wife of the oldest miner. >> translator: i immediately went to the mine, the first woman to arrive. there were lots of men. everybody was desperate. no one knew what was happening. no one knew anything. the boss came and said, don't worry, tomorrow we'll bring in machines. we'll clear the blockage, and all the miners will be out. i told him, you can't fool me. i know the state that mine is in, and if it's collapsed, that's not a day's work. >> the rescuers were now going down the same escape shafts the trapped men had tried to climb up and with no more success.

>> translator: we said, we're not leaving because if the families leave, our men will remain there. they were leaving them down there. when they closed the mine, that was the worst moment. so we picked up sticks and iron bars and formed a chain to prevent the trucks from leaving. >> translator: since it was quiet down the mine, we all thought it was on top, as well. so we started drilling into the

mountain. quickly put a drill up there and up it went. we were just trying to send out signs of life. coming up, the miners' life underground becomes a hell on earth. >> translator: it was boiling, hot as hell. >> and a fearful divide grows between old and young. >> translator: the older ones were more worried. they thought the younger ones could last longer. 's lots of was you can get cash back. i'm here to help you get the most out of your cash rewards. it's personalized, and it's free. i want that. we have a concierge! at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card with cashback concierge.

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now trapped for two days, the miners use drills and car horns in an effort to be heard above. they also lit fires in hope the smoke would travel up the escape shafts, anything to show proof of life.

help! >> translator: it was boiling, all wet. it was hot as hell. and the air, the air was terrible. >> the temperature in the mine was like a furnace, over 100 degrees. but the men could drink from the large supply of industrial water, stored to cool the drilling equipment. the water was wet, but far from clean. they also removed batteries and headlights from their vehicles to rig up makeshift lighting. >> translator: we got organized from the first day. we were an amazing team. we were workers. there were no professionals down there, only workers. >> on the third day, a further

collapse made any rescue via the main tunnel impossible. lawrence goble, the chilliian minister for mines was on site and reported the bad news to the family. >> the news was too much for lily gomez.

>> translator: people said, senora, be prepared for anything. don't cling to the idea that your husband and the others are alive. the situation is very difficult. be ready for any outcome. i said, no, i won't suffer because i know they are alive and they will get out. [ singing ave maria in spanish ] >> translator: we would ask the lord above all to take care of our families, to take care of them and to help us get out. >> translator: most people had given up on the idea of getting out of there. or at best thought it would take a long time. [ speaking foreign language ] >> the miners' daily prayers were followed by a general meeting where decisions were

made by voting, establishing a democratic and fair process from the beginning. >> translator: mario sepulveda, the man who asserted himself the most, a sort of leader. spontaneous, nonelected. he's the one who said, let's do this or that. he organized things. >> translator: perry took the role of cook. he would lay out all the cups, 33 cups. all the little cups. he would mix a little bit of tuna and water in a can. >> translator: i really enjoyed doing that. never giving anyone a millimeter more than the others. always equal. 33 equal portions, from which

ever angle you looked, they were all the same. >> by day four, the 33 had established their daily routines. but still wondered if anyone was even looking for them. so far they had heard no signs of a search. >> translator: i remember we discussed an accident in mexico when some miners also got trapped. they just put a gravestone on the surface. they made no attempt to rescue them. that thought haunted us. we were afraid the same was happening to us. >> translator: i wrote two

letters and wrapped them in a plastic bag so that if i didn't get out, the decomposition of my body wouldn't affect the paper. i just wrote and wrote and wrote to my wife. i told her she was an amazing woman, that she was young, that she should carry on with her life. i was already dead. to myself, i was already dead. i was alive, but i was dead. >> translator: as i walked by, i saw many of my companions crying. i asked them why they were crying. they said, we're not going to see our kids grow up. coming up, with the searing heat and little food, the miners' will to live begins to ebb.

>> translator: i simply didn't know if i would have the strength to last until the drill found us. for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? ahh, oh! [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. here's your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? [ crows ] now where's the snooze button?

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dell a la cruz. here's what's happening. the embattled slugger said he will rejoin the yankees monday refusing comments about a report that his representatives were above when they reached out to talk about a possible deal. and a pilot and two passengers were killed when a small plane crashed near a neighborhood outside myrtle beach, south carolina, on saturday. i'm veronica de la cruz. that is the news. now back to the program.

by day five, lily gomez had brought her family to the mine. and along with other relatives, set up camp. they dubbed it camp hope. their protest was a magnet for chilean tv news and helped ensure the authorities would not just abandon the missing men. their campaign succeeded. soon, drills began to show up from all over chile. >> with still no audible sign of

a rescue attempt, some of the men began to lose hope, fearing they had been written off as dead. >> translator: i told the youngsters to remain calm. i told them not to panic, but also not to sit around. if you sit around, you start thinking. then you get depressed. >> translator: we were on the ramp when one of the boys said, i can hear something. everyone went silent. from very, very far away, we could barely hear a probe.

>> translator: i told them it's going to take time. it's not going to be quick or easy. i tried to explain to them that if they followed the official maps of the mine, they'll probably end up in china. >> the rescuers still had no accurate map of the mine. nevertheless, by the end of the first week, eight drills started pounding into the desert and rock below, aiming for a small cavern 2,500 feet down where they thought the shelter might be.

>> translator: each time it sounded near. then it would stop. then you felt it far away. another rig was drilling again. it would reach some point, then stop. then start drilling again. it was torture. >> translator: i saw mario gomez, and not only him. there were others who got sticks and started to run around and listen. >> translator: they would see me with a stick and laugh at me. they would say i was crazy. i would explain to them i was working out where the probes were coming through. >> the miners knew the probes would take days, maybe weeks, to hammer through the hard rock. with so much time on their hands, the 33 began to be plagued by troubling dreams. >> translator: i saw my son down in the mine.

he woke me up every day from that wet piece of cardboard and made me get up. i went out to look for help. i went to my house. i couldn't get in, so i went to my neighbor's house. and i screamed at them that they shouldn't give up. that they should come and get me because i wanted to live. that all of us were alive. i yelled at them to fight. i didn't want to wake up because it was a beautiful dream. >> translator: psychology is full of phenomena. and within those phenomena, i discovered just how much you could do with the mind. and inside the mind, you create a world that isn't a dream.

you go beyond that. everything you love up there is here. i created a world. if i hadn't gone beyond and created this exterior world around me, if i hadn't lived it, i'd have died. >> one teaspoon of food every two days was taking a toll, dividing the strong from the weak. in the searing heat and humidity, it only made the situation worse. it was especially taxing on alex vega, who already had kidney problems and high blood pressure prior to the collapse. >> i had already lost 16 kilos. i was struggling to stand up.

i simply didn't know if i would have the strength to last until the drilling found us. >> with conditions rapidly deteriorating, some of the 33 started to think about their own survival rather than the welfare of others. >> translator: one time when i was wandering around, i noticed the medicine cupboard had been left open. of course. people went to sleep a little bit later and the saline was gone. i became obsessed. saline, saline, saline. it was all about the saline. i stole that saline. what i did was bad, though good for one person. >> translator: everything was being shared equally.

and then suddenly things started to disappear. it wasn't good for us. it shouldn't have happened. >> translator: you see, it wasn't easy. it meant more life, more days. if war had broken out or gangs formed, the strong against the weak or the majority against the minority, something was going to happen. you could feel something coming. >> at camp hope, the two-week anniversary of the accident was marked with the sounding of horns. the families were told by the authorities that with luck one of the probes might reach the emergency bunker that night.

>> down below, the growing sound of the pounding drills convinced miners that they soon might be found. >> translator: despite having no strength left, we were listening, focused, looking everywhere. we heard the probe come down through one of the pillars. >> translator: so we followed it down from one level of the mine to the next until we got to the bottom. then we heard the probe disappear. >> translator: it passed by and kept going and going and going, and no one knew where. and with it went life. >> the rescuers snaked a camera down the bore hole. it revealed nothing but rock and rubble. not realizing they were just feet from the missing men. the families began to lose faith in the experts.

coming up, as their food supply runs out, the miners consider the unthinkable. >> translator: it was a matter of who would fall first. that was the position. the first one to fade away, we would have pounced on him like animals. it was coming. what do you think? [ mom ] yea, give it more sparkles. [ male announcer ] your kids make great things. so give them a tasty, wholesome snack that has eight grams of whole grain... and is now made with real strawberries and bananas.

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but one of us set an example. he was far sicker than the rest of us. he suggested if we could manage not to eat for 48 more hours, that we could make 72 hours without eating. two more days. it was my friend, alex vega, who proposed the 72 hours. he encouraged us to hold out longer. but he was in an even worse state than us. >> translator: i had problems standing up. i had to do it very slowly. and when i got up, i had to stop for about a minute because my sight would get blurry andering would turn black. i waited for my eyes to clear and then started to move. moving was so difficult because i was so weak. >> with their food almost gone, some of the starving miners were

now considering the final taboo. >> translator: i could see people who were really weak. maybe they were closer to dying, but we never said this guy is ready to go. the older ones were more worried. they thought the younger ones could last longer. >> translator: it was a matter of who would fall first. that was the position. the first one to fade away, we would have pounced on him like animals. it was coming. >> translator: we could have easily ended up eating one of our companions. i always thought it could happen. >> translator: the devil came to visit us. we weren't alone. there was an evil presence. i personally felt there was an evil presence. ♪ [ singing in foreign language ]

>> translator: on the 16th day, i got tired. between the 15th and the 16th, we had watched the probe pass. so on the 16th, good-bye. but i never blamed god, never. i simply placed myself in his hands. i'm just going to wait a while and rest. that's what i said. i dressed, just in case, like the great miner i am. whatever would happen, i was prepared for the end, my friend. i was going to go in a dignified way, with my boots on. if i was going to die, it did not matter. i'd die happy. [ singing in foreign language ]

>> translator: my dream was to come up the ramp, singing that song and "the "national anthem."" >> translator: i leaned against the wall and i felt the wall vibrating. some rocks started to fall down. i said, okay, this is where it's going to break through. so i started to light up a specific spot. i saw the water was pouring through. and suddenly the drill appears right there. i was so happy.

i thought there were only a few of us there, but when i looked up, i saw everyone. and everyone was yelling at me, but i wasn't listening. and i didn't care. the joy. i think that day was the happiest day. i cried that day. >> translator: we were hitting

it with our sole sole souls. not with our hands but with our souls so they could hear up there that we were alive. >> translator: so we did all of that. we hit the probe, tied the messages on it. and after that, in my case, i went blank. as if i couldn't believe it. i couldn't believe that the probe had found its goal after all that time.

>> translator: i stood up to scream, and i fainted. i didn't go outside to celebrate like the other families. instead, i went and touched the virgin's dress. i started to cry and told her that i knew that she would not fail me.

coming up, for the 33, after 69 days underground, their long nightmare ends, finally. >> translator: it's like a curtain being lowered. i could see the light. i now know what babies feel when they arrive in the world, to see the light. extraordinary. my asthma's under control.

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on day 17, the rescuers' camera found not rubble, but the first images of the missing men. but they would have to wait another 52 days before a large

enough hole could be drilled to bring them all to the surface. the emergence of the first miners on october 13th, 2010, transformed a disaster into a miracle. >> it is an unbelievable scene here. it's impossible to have a dry eye as you can see the very first moment, the very first hug. >> among the first brought up, mario sepulveda. >> he practically burst out of that capsule, pumping his fists into the air. a sign of the energy and really the great condition that has surprised all here.

>> over the next 24 hours, the whole world watched as 33 men emerged, one by one. >> translator: i yelled about everything inside the capsule as i went up to the surface. then you cross that amazing threshold, that horizon that was produced. it's like a curtain being lowered. i could see the light. i now know what babies feel when they arrive in the world, to see the light. extraordinary. >> as each miner stepped into the light, they found themselves briefly engulfed by worldwide fame. today, the mine at san jose is abandoned and permanently closed. meanwhile, a government investigation found the mine owners at fault for the accident. as for the miners, many remain unemployed. others, haunted by the painful

memories of what they endured down below. >> translator: i have nightmares. my wife tells me i talk in my sleep and that i always talk about being inside the mine and most of all about the first day, the day of the collapse. when i was down the mine, i thought that when i came out, i thought i would be a better family man, that i would be more loving with my kids and with my wife. unfortunately things haven't turned out that way. >> translator: we are not heroes, nor are they heroes.

we are victims, and they are victims of the bad working conditions and the bad management of the mine. >> translator: the problem i have is that i haven't left the mine yet. i am still down there. i'd like to be a millionaire. you know why? so i can give the money to a poor person. and in return, he has to give me back my old self. i'd give him everything to be the person i was before.

cruising for a bruising. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. remember what president obama said about the republicans, about how their endless symbolic votes to kill obama care, now part of american law, by the way, don't constitute an economic plan? well, they didn't get the word. before congress left for a five-week vacation, they had one more piece of business to