cChilean rescuers hoisted 33 trapped miners to safety today as millions watched round the globe and church bells pealed across the nation after a two-month underground ordeal.
In a complicated but flawless operation under Chile's far northern desert, Luis Urzua, who was shift leader when the mine collapsed in early August, emerged last through 625 metres of rock in a metal capsule little wider than a man's shoulders.
With much of the world transfixed on TV, celebrations erupted and the miners, who set a world record for survival underground, were welcomed as national heroes outside the San Jose gold and copper mine in the Atacama desert.
"I hand the shift over to you and hope this never happens again," Urzua, 54, wearing a hard-hat and shades to protect his eyes, told a waiting and emotional President Sebastian Pinera.
Bells and horns sounded throughout the South American country in celebration, while a crowd outside the mine chanted Viva Chile amid smiles, tears and a sea of red-white-and-blue national flags.
Rescuers held up a sign in Spanish reading: Mission Accomplished before ascending themselves after the 33 miners were evacuated. Some people compared the 24-hour operation to the mid-space rescue of the Apollo 13 crew 40 years ago.
Congratulations poured in from abroad, with US President Barack Obama hailing the rescue as an inspiration to the world.
When the mine caved in on August 5, the men were all thought dead in yet another of Latin America's litany of mining accidents.
But rescuers found them 17 days later with a bore hole the width of a grapefruit.
That tiny hole became an umbilical cord used to pass hydration gels, water and food to keep them alive until a bigger space could be bored to bring them up.
Mining has played a central but often tragic role in Latin American history, starting with the hunt for gold and silver that drove the Spanish conquest.
For centuries, conditions were atrocious but they have improved radically in recent decades and the industry has helped fuel an economic boom in some nations including Chile.
At the end of the operation, rescue workers opened the capsule door and hugged Urzua, who insisted throughout he would not leave the tunnel until all the others were safely out.
The evacuation process - via a metal capsule named Phoenix after the mythical bird that rose from the ashes - went quicker and more smoothly than anyone dared to believe, swelling Chileans' pride at the rescue.
"This was the toughest match of my life," said Franklin Lobos, a former professional soccer player who turned to mining and driving a taxi to make ends meet, when he came out.
The miners were generally in good health, except for one who had pneumonia and was being treated with antibiotics. "This is a miracle from God," said Alberto Avalos, the uncle of Florencio Avalos, a father of two who was the first to emerge shortly after midnight.
The Chileans' survival story was captured and broadcast by 1,500 journalists camped at the remote scene.
The exhausted but euphoric miners hugged rescuers who traveled down the shaft to their refuge deep in the mine.
Unknown workers before the mine collapse, the 33 men are now global media stars.
