33 Chilean balloons released as last miner surfaces
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SAN JOSE MINE — Thirty-three balloons decked out in Chile’s red-white-and-blue colors floated free into the night sky above this mine late Wednesday at the exact moment the last of the 33 trapped miners was brought to the surface.
The globes, scudding across a crescent moon, symbolized the liberation of the men and the soaring pride Chileans felt in their nation — a shared moment of unsurpassed joy and union.
Eyes and cheeks glistened with tears of emotion as the miners’ relatives in Camp Hope, at the entrance to the San Jose mine, watched the balloons rise.
Then they burst into Chile’s national anthem, singing along with the last miner saved, Luis Urzua, wearing a Chilean flag draped over his shoulders, and an emotional President Sebastian Piñera.
The depth of feeling electrified the thousands of international journalists in the camp, who respectfully stood in silence alongside the families, recording the event, and sharing in it..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101015com3.html
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