Faith around a miracle
in the north of Chile
By Javier García.
Communications officer
Chilean Bible Society
18th October 2010
5th august miners trapped
• A cave-in leaves 33
miners trapped nearly
half a mile
underground in a
small copper and-gold
mine near the
Chilean city of
Copiapo, 500 miles
north of Santiago.
22th August - Good News
• Aug 22 – Rescue
workers hear tapping on
the drill at a depth of
2,260 feet.
• When the drill is pulled
out, there is a note
attached. It reads
"Estamos bien en el
refugio, los 33" – "We
are fine in the shelter,
the 33 of us." The
miners have access to
about 1km of tunnel and
have split into three
groups to eat and sleep
Day of rescue, 12th October
• Austrian mine
workers install the
final platform where
the crane is being
installed, hours
before the rescue
operation to lift the
trapped workers out
of the San Jose mine
near Copiapo, Chile
on 12th October 2010
Photo: *** HUGO INFANTE/GOVERNMENT OF
CHILE ***
T-Shirt & Faith
Campus Crusade
for Christ Chile,
gave this T-shirt
•
T-shirt: Gracias Señor
Thank you Lord!
Photo: HUGO
INFANTE/GOVERNMENT OF CHILE
Laurence Golborne
• President Sebastian Piñera
and Mining Minister
Laurence Golborne shake
hands after Roberto Rios,
a technical expert arrives
at the bottom of the hole
where the 33 trapped
miners wait for their exit at
the San Jose mine near
Copiapo, Chile on October
12, 2010.
•
Photo HUGO INFANTE/GOVERNMENT OF CHILE
Sebastian Pinera
• "What started as a
tragedy is ending as a
real blessing“
Chilean president Sebastian Pinera
waits with the family of Victor Zamora,
33, the fourteenth trapped miner to be
rescued from the San Jose mine near
Copiapo, Chile on October 13, 2010.
• "It was a miracle,
because on the first
day the odds were
against us," Pinera
said. "At the end of
the day, the miners
were in the hands of
God."
Juan Carlos Aguilar
• Juan Carlos Aguilar is
the twenty-ninth miner
to leave the San Jose
mine near Copiapo,
Chile on October 13,
2010.
•
Photo: HUGO INFANTE/GOVERNMENT OF
CHILE
T-Shirt In his hand are
the depths of the earth,
and the mountain
peaks belong to him.
(Psalm 95.4)
Carlos Barrios
in his first letter to his cousin,
acknowledged that he never
considered himself religious. "He
told me, 'Cousin, now I believe
in God, I believe completely,'"
his cousin Alonso Contreras
recounted.
• Miner
o
rescat
ado
Carlos Barrios, 24, is the
thirteenth trapped miner to be
rescued from the San Jose mine
near Copiapo, Chile on October
13, 2010.
Photo: INFANTE/ GOVERNMENT OF CHILE.
Logo on the T-shirt's left sleeve for
the Jesus Film Project.
Alex Vega
• Thirty-one year old Alex
Vega holds a Bible while
being carried into the
triage medical site. Vega
became the tenth rescued
miner at the site of the
San Jose mine in
Copiapo, Chile on October
13, 2010. A mine collapse
left the workers trapped
underground for 69 days.
Photo: HUGO INFANTE/GOVERNMENT OF
CHILE
Chaplain Alfredo Cooper
“When they first vanished,
we didn’t know whether they
were alive or dead. So
outside of the mine the role
of faith and prayer was
central. The President
called for an emergency
prayer meeting. We prayed
in the presidential palace”
Photo: Reverend Alfredo Cooper, the
Protestant chaplain to the President of
Chile and Ximena Matas, Atacama's
region Governor
Francisco Viguera, Chilean Bible Society
Photo: Francisco
Viguera, General
Secretary of Chilean
Bible Society, presents
New Testaments to
miners' families
Florencio Avalos
• Florencio Avalos,
31, becomes the
first miner to exit
the Phoenix rescue
capsule after an
accident trapped 33
miners for 69 days
in the San Jose
mine near Copiapo,
Chile the night of
• October 12, 2010.
Photo: HUGO INFANTE/GOVERNMENT OF
CHILE *** NO SALES. EDITORIAL USE
ONLY.
Luis Urzua. Last miner rescued
• Chilean president
Sebastian Piñera
hugs Luis Urzua,
the last miner out of
the rescue hole at
the San Jose mine
near Copiapo, Chile
on October 13,
2010.
•
Photo : HUGO
INFANTE/GOVERNMENT OF CHILE
José Henríquez, the preacher
•
Photo description: Jose
Henriquez 54, embraces
Andres Sougarret, head of
the rescue operation, and
becomes the twenty-fourth
worker to be saved from
the San Jose mine near
Copiapo, Chile on October
13, 2010.
Photo: GOVERNMENT OF CHILE
We were singing to the Lord,
we were doing what pleases
the Lord. So everyone
accepted Him, many of them
reconciled themselves with
the Lord, some of them
made promises to Him
“The moment of prayer, of his
readings of the Bible, was the most
special moment for the miners
because it was the only moment
that they all came together, at
twelve in the day and at six in the
evening they came together in this
moment of unity
Mario Sepúlveda
• Photo Description Mario
Sepulveda, 39, is the second
miner to leave the San Jose
mine with the Phoenix rescue
capsule the night of October
13, 2010. An accident trapped
33 miners for over nine weeks
in the mine located near
Copiapo, Chile.
•
PHOTO: HUGO INFANTE/GOVERNMENT OF CHILE
“I was with God I was with the Devil. God and the devil were fighting over
me, and God won. I always knew they would get me out. I always had
faith in the professionals here in Chile and in the Great Creator”.
"I always knew God would get us out of there."
We 33 miners are walking hand in hand with God," miner Mario
Sepulveda reported on August 31,
Esteban Rojas
• Esteban Rojas, 44,
kneels to pray after
stepping out from
the rescue capsulse
and becomes the
eighteenth trapped
miner to be rescued
from the San Jose
mine near Copiapo,
Chile on October 13,
2010.
•
Photo: HUGO INFANTE
/GOVERNMENT OF CHILE
Omar Reygadas
• Omar Reygadas, 56,
kneels down with a
Bible in hand while
becoming the
seventeenth trapped
miner to be rescued
from the San Jose
mine near Copiapo,
Chile on October 13,
2010.
"I don't belong to the church," he says. "My
church is at the corner of my bedroom, or on
my patio. But now I feel much closer to God."
Photo: HUGO INFANTE/GOVERNMENT OF
CHILE
Jimmy Sanchez
• In a letter he sent to
the surface earlier this
week, he said he
wished to correct
reports that there
were 33 miners
trapped below.
Photo Jimmy Sanchez, 19, is the fifth miner to
leave the San Jose mine with the "Fenix" rescue
capsule the night of October 12, 2010. An accident
trapped 33 miners for over 69 days in the mine
located near Copiapo, Chile.
Photo HUGO INFANTE/GOVERNMENT OF CHILE
"There are actually
34 of us," he said,
"because God has
never left us down
here."