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 COPIAPO: The first of Chile's 33 trapped miners were pulled to safety in a capsule barely wider than a man's shoulders early on Wednesday as their two-month ordeal neared its end. Rescuers, relatives and friends broke into jubilant cheers as father-of-two Florencio Avalos emerged on the surface to breathe his first fresh air in 69 days after a claustrophobic ascent of around 2,050 feet (625 meters) through thick rock. Hugged and kissed by relatives, the 31-year-old Avalos looked very healthy after his nearly 16-minute journey to safety. He was then embraced by President Sebastian Pinera as the surrounding crowd chanted "Chile! Viva Chile!" Next up was fellow miner Mario Sepulveda, whose whoops of joy resounded on the surface even before he arrived to the laughs of waiting relatives. He stepped out the capsule with a yellow bag, reached in and pulled out souvenir rocks from below, and slapped one in Pinera's hand. "I'm so happy!" Sepulveda yelled, grinning, punching his fist in the air and hugging everyone in sight. The miners have spent a record 69 days in the hot, humid bowels of the gold and copper mine in Chile's northern Atacama desert since it caved in on Aug. 5. Rescuers hope to bring all the remaining men to safety over the next two days. For the first 17 days of their ordeal, the miners were all believed to be dead, and their story of survival as well as the extraordinary rescue operation has captured the world's attention. After weeks of drilling a narrow shaft down to the miners and preparing the special capsules, the final stage began when a rescuer descended the shaft on Tuesday night. He was hugged by the waiting miners when he reached their tunnel deep in the mine, and he then took just minutes to buckle Avalos into the capsule and send him to the surface. "This is a miracle from God," said his jubilant uncle, Alberto Avalos, who rushed to the capsule's platform as it arrived shortly after midnight. The men, who set a new record for the length of time workers have survived underground after a mining accident, have been doing exercises to keep their weight down for their ascent. Nervous wives, children, parents and friends waited on an arid, rocky hillside above the San Jose mine waiting for their loved ones to be evacuated in an operation expected to take up to 48 hours. The specially-made steel cages are equipped with oxygen masks and escape hatches in case they get stuck. AGENCIES  |