Alex Vega has recalled the deafening roar of rescue drills that pierced the darkness after 17 days of silence deep inside a Chilean mine.
Vega, one of 33 miners trapped 2,300 feet underground at the San José copper-gold mine, spoke in the new National Geographic documentary “Chilean Mine Rescue: Race Against Time,” which premiered Saturday. The series revisits the 2010 disaster that began when the mine collapsed on August 5 in Chile’s Atacama Desert, leaving the men stranded three miles from the entrance.
“I remember it was around 4am,” Vega said in the documentary. “It was obvious the drilling was getting closer. At one point we all started to stand up because it was deafening.”
“Rocks appear and the air comes through,” he continued.
The breakthrough came after nearly 400 hours of uncertainty. Families above ground had feared the worst, not without reason: a 2008 incident at the same desert mine had killed 43 workers. When the 2010 cave-in struck, survival seemed improbable.
Fellow miner Victor Zamora described the moment the drill finally broke through to their chamber. “It was like a bomb,” he said in the documentary. “The drill broke through; It was like being born again.”
The initial borehole delivered more than hope. Narrow plastic tubes became lifelines, feeding the men until widening work allowed hot meals to descend in containers. Officials even sent a television down so the miners could watch sports.
Vega tearfully added in the documentary that the drill “broke through right where we were.” He called the moment “absolute joy” and declared: “It was a miracle.”
Yet the breakthrough marked only the beginning of another 52 days of waiting. Engineers raced to widen a shaft large enough for the custom-built Phoenix rescue capsule. The world watched live online as, on October 13, 2010, all 33 men were pulled to the surface one by one—69 days after entrapment. The final rescue drew 5.3 million online viewers.
The three-part documentary, which also streams on Disney+, features firsthand accounts from the men who endured what became one of the most watched rescue operations in history.
“Chilean Mine Rescue: Race Against Time” continues streaming on Disney+ following its National Geographic premiere.