Manuel Gonzalez : 'I am just one link in the chain,'

Chile continued to celebrate the smooth success of the rescue operation on Wednesday as the miners prepared to leave a hospital in Copiapo, Chile, Thursday. Manuel Gonzalez was eager to get the rescue operation under way as he descended the shaft to the darkness where 33 miners had been trapped since August 5.

 He and a team of 15 others from mines across Chile had been preparing for "Operation San Lorenzo" for a week. They'd done practice runs of readying the miners for their trip to surface and operating the metal rescue capsule bearing Chile's flag that would carry them 2,300 feet to freedom.

Each member of the rescue team was ready and able to do the job just as well as the rest, says Gonzalez -- which is why he was especially honored to be chosen as the first team member to go down to the mine.

"I was very moved because they chose me, because the whole team had the necessary skills," Gonzalez said in a press conference Thursday outside the San Jose mine site. "I had seen it on TV and I wanted to see it with my own eyes, and I wanted to start the operation."

Nothing could have prepared him for the jubilant reception -- or the intense heat -- he encountered upon entering the mine.

"They ran. One of them was already waiting for me. They hugged me and congratulated me for being the first one. But more than anything, I was very happy to see them. I mean, my first reaction was very strong because they were like in shock because temperature down there was about 40 degrees Celsius [104 degrees]."

Chile continued to celebrate the smooth success of the rescue operation on Wednesday as the miners prepared to leave a hospital in Copiapo, Chile, Thursday.

Gonzalez, a 20-year veteran of mining, said he was not particularly nervous about going into the mine, due to his years of experience and the amount of planning that had gone into Operation San Lorenzo.

The former professional soccer player had another reason to look forward to reaching the miners: the prospect of meeting Franklin Lobos, a former Chilean soccer star whom Gonzalez once regarded as an "idol."

But this time around, Gonzalez says he saw a different side of Lobos.

"I saw him almost immediately... he also remembered me, he's a great guy and he was one of the group's leaders. He was able to stay calm," he said.

With the help of Gonzalez's colleagues underground and above, the miners ascended the makeshift shaft one by one with such precision that the crew was able to shorten the length of time they thought they'd need to get each miner to the surface, from one hour to 20 minutes.

Echoing the sentiments of others involved in the rescue, Gonzalez credited the success of the rescue to solid teamwork and coordination at all stages, from planning to execution.

"I am just one link in the chain and there was tremendous discipline and order," he said. "I am just part of a great team."

Chilean Miners Leave Hospita

The national anthem was sung after the last miner, Luis Urzua, reached the surface. Some of the men have been given dental surgery and two have the lung disease, silicosis: Mario Sepulveda, the second miner to have been rescued, and Mario Gomez, 63, who is on a course of antibiotics for pneumonia. The men were hauled to the surface one at a time in a complicated and dramatic operation that took about 22 hours from the time the first miner reached the ground to when the last miner surfaced.
The miners had been told they would need to be held in the hospital for 48 hours but Health Minister Jaime Manalich announced earlier that their condition was so good that many would be able to leave within 24 hours. He said their condition was nothing short of a miracle.
The national anthem was sung after the last miner, Luis Urzua, reached the surface
Some of the men have been given dental surgery and two have the lung disease, silicosis: Mario Sepulveda, the second miner to have been rescued, and Mario Gomez, 63, who is on a course of antibiotics for pneumonia.
The men were hauled to the surface one at a time in a complicated and dramatic operation that took about 22 hours from the time the first miner reached the ground to when the last miner surfaced.
They were winched up a narrow shaft in a metal capsule from where they had been trapped 625m (2,050 feet) below ground since the mine partially collapsed on 5 August.
"The trip up was calm," said rescued miner Richard Villarroel. "Everything was well prepared. I came up listening to music."
He and the 32 other miners have set a world record for surviving the longest time trapped underground.
As they arrived at the surface, each miner was greeted by President Pinera, who promised a review that would lead to a "very radical change" affecting the health and safety of workers in mining as well as the transport, fishing and construction industries.
He said it was impossible to guarantee that Chile would never face such an accident in the future.
"But we can guarantee one thing: never again in our country will we allow working in conditions so inhuman and so unsafe as happened in the San Jose mine and many other places in our country."
He told the miners there will be a big celebration for them on 25 October, in the capital Santiago.
He also invited them for a game of football the same day against the officials who had helped rescue them.
Mr Pinera joked that the winners would be allowed to live at the presidential palace, La Moneda, while the losers would have to go back down the mine.
Offers
The miners survived the first 17 days of their ordeal by eking out rations that were meant to last just a few days before rescuers found them via a probe lowered down a bore hole about the width of a grapefruit.
There has been intense international media scrutiny of the rescued miners
Food and other supplies were lowered to the men while they waited for a larger shaft to be drilled for their rescue.
Now that the men are safe, thoughts have turned to their emotional wellbeing.
An insight into how the miners are adjusting to life above ground has come from a diary written for the BBC by the three children of Omar Reygadas, the 17th to be freed.
One of the children, Ximena, has described how her father has become so pale after his 69 days underground that he resembles the cartoon ghost, Casper.
"In general, he's in good spirits. But then when he remembers the first few days after the accident, he starts crying, he gets very upset," she wrote.
"But then he pulls himself together and his spirits are high once more."
The Chilean government has promised to care for the miners for at least six months.
Offers and invitations to the men have begun to pour in.
European football clubs Manchester United and Real Madrid have invited the 33 to watch them play and they have also received offers of holidays and TV appearances.
They are also expected to receive offers of jobs, advertising deals and book and movie contracts to tell their extraordinary stories.