MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Miners endured a temperature of 40º. Celsius and almost 100% humidity

“I imagine what the first 17 days were like”

Manuel González, the first rescue worker to descend the San José mine pipe during the operative set up to save the 33 Chilean miners that were trapped for 70 days 700 metres under ground, assured the temperatures and humidity the workers had to face were “terrible.”

González was the first to go down and the last to come out via the Phoenix II capsule once all 33 miners were safe on the surface.

“I spent 25 hours down there at a temperature of 40° Celsius. Imagine what it would be like to live 70 days in those conditions. Humidity was close to 100 percent and the men walked around half-naked. It really impressed us,” he said.

“I imagine what the first 17 days were like, during which time they knew nothing of the world. It must have been terrible, which is why the heroes of this whole ordeal are them,” he added.

González, one of the seven rescue workers that went down to help the miners re-surface, also said that down there, “one really puts into perspective the conditions under which they lived. And lets not forget I saw them when they were being fed well,” he pointed out.

Regarding the reception they gave the 33 miners when he became the first person they saw in 70 days, González said that “there was much applause, shouts of ‘¡Viva Chile!' (”Long Live Chile!”), and kisses here and there.”