Florencio Avalos was the first Chilean miner rescued tonight after being trapped underground for 69 days.
Thank God. It was an emotional reunion with his young son.
The AP reported:
Florencio Avalos, the first of 33 miners to be rescued, has surfaced after 69 days underground.
He stepped out of a rescue capsule amid sobs from his young son and received a bracing bear hug from Chilean President Sebastian Pinera.
Avalos smiled widely as he hugged rescuers, then Pinera, as his wife, two sons and father looked on. His 7-year-old son Bairo sobbed, as did Chile’s first lady, Cecilia Morel. Then Avalos was escorted into a medical triage center for the first of a battery of tests
Michelle Malkin added this today on the rescue efforts:
In a different day and age, Jeff Hart would be the most famous American in our country right now. He would be honored at the White House. Schoolchildren would learn of his skill and heroism.
Jeff Hart is a driller based in my home state of Colorado. The father of two has been drilling water wells in Afghanistan at U.S. Army bases. When the San Jose Mine in Chile collapsed in August, he flew to lend his renowned expertise to the rescue effort. As part of an amazing three-way race to the trapped miners, Hart drilled for 33 days straight and was first to reach the caved-in workers. The AP recounts the story — and what strikes me again and again is how the world turned to American ingenuity and American fortitude and American equipment and American enterprise to get the job done.
UPDATE: (Wednesday AM) 9 of 33 miners brought to the surface.
