The 33 trapped miners rescued after the 2010 mine collapse near Copiapó were in Chile. The San José copper-gold mine was located in Chile’s Atacama Region, about 45 kilometers north of Copiapó.
The collapse occurred on 5 August 2010, trapping 33 men roughly 700 meters underground. One worker escaped, while the others gathered in an underground refuge. Rescue teams located them after 17 days, when a probe brought up a note reading, “We are well in the shelter, the 33.”
The miners survived underground for 69 days before being lifted to the surface one by one in the Fénix rescue capsule on 13 October. The operation involved Chilean agencies, international drilling teams, NASA advisers, and engineers from several countries.
A common mix-up is confusing Chile with neighboring Argentina, Bolivia, or Peru. The accident happened in northern Chile, a country especially associated with copper mining. The mine’s safety history and missing emergency ladder also became major parts of the later debate.