On Aug. 5, 2010, a catastrophic collapse at the San José copper-gold mine sealed 33 men approximately 2,300 feet underground. For 17 days, their survival remained unknown. Then a drilling probe reached the miners’ refuge and returned carrying a handwritten message that electrified Chile and the world: all 33 were alive.
For 17 agonizing days, families above Chile’s Atacama Desert didn’t know whether 33 miners trapped nearly half a mile underground were dead or alive. More than 15 years later, footage the men recorded themselves is helping tell the extraordinary story of how all 33 made it home.
“Chilean Mine Rescue: Race Against Time,” is a three-part documentary series revisiting the 2010 San José mine disaster and the unprecedented 69-day fight for survival and rescue.
The series features never-before-seen cellphone footage filmed inside the mine, along with interviews with survivors, their families and rescuers. Six of the miners are making what National Geographic describes as their first appearances in an international documentary.
Andrea Carnevali 