Chile’s miners greet the light

Florencio Avalos became the first miner to taste freedom when he appeared through a manhole-size opening and stepped from the narrow rescue capsule into the arms of his father.

After 10 weeks deep inside a collapsed mine, 33 Chilean miners were lifted to safety this week, emerging one by one in surprisingly good health and spirits from an unprecedented ordeal. Rising nearly half a mile from underground in a specially designed rescue capsule, Florencio Avalos became the first miner to taste freedom when he appeared through a manhole-size opening and stepped from the narrow rescue capsule into the arms of his father. “My boy is finally safe,” said Alfonso Avalos amid the cheers of family members, journalists, and Chilean President Sebastián Piñera.

“Operation San Lorenzo”—named for the patron saint of miners—began early Wednesday morning and was

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