What It Took to Bring 33 Men Home

Manuel González, the first rescuer down, was the last one up, after 25 hours and 14 minutes in the mine. Then President Piñera covered the shaft with a metal lid. The 33 miners had come up in under 22 hours, in a capsule that made 39 round trips, some 50 kilometers in all. An estimated 5.3 million people watched live. All but two of the men went home within 48 hours. The words on that first note, meanwhile, had become the motto of the whole effort, printed on banners and T-shirts.