A mining collapse in the Chilean desert on Aug. 5, 2010, trapped 33 men deep underground for 69 days, with little hope for their survival. The saga received millions of words of coverage at the time, and millions more since. Now Héctor Tobar brings us the official version, with cooperation from all 33 survivors, of their astonishing underground rescue.
Any mildly competent writer could piece together a readable book-length account of the 69 days because the material is so rich. Fortunately, Tobar, a journalist at the Los Angeles Times, has developed reporting and writing skills far beyond mildly competent. He has written a superb book, using present tense verbs to provide readers a sort of “you are there” experience.
Juggling the personal stories of so many characters would be difficult for any writer. Tobar made the wise decision to focus on a few more than the rest, minimizing confusion for readers. In the prologue, only a half-dozen of the 33 who will be trapped register brief appearances.
The main character is the mountain encompassing the mine. Unpredictable, with humanlike characteristics, most of them scary, it is known as “the mountain of thunder and sorrow.” The mine is the San Jose Mine, opened in 1889. The Chilean desert, where rain pours for a few days and then might disappear for a dozen years, carries the name Atacama.
The men work 12-hour shifts below the surface of the earth. When it is time to emerge as a shift ends, the ride from the lower depths to the opening on top might consume close to one hour.
Some of the men reside in the nearby town of Copiapo so can reach home easily, filthy with soot and sweaty. But other miners travel a thousand miles or more round trip each week as employees paid relatively well by Chilean standards.
In the weeks before the collapse, the mountain is talking. As Tobar writes, “Many tons of rock are falling in forgotten caverns deep inside the mountain.
“The sounds and vibrations caused by these avalanches are transmitted through the stone structure of the mountain in the same way the blast waves of lightning strikes travel through the air and ground. The mine is ‘weeping’ a lot, the men say to each other. This thundering wail is not unusual, but its frequency is.”
After the collapse, the men are cut off from all human contact for 17 days. Nobody up top knows if they are alive. And yet all of them are — hungry and thirsty and filthy and in some cases approaching mental crackups, but alive. When the giant drills finally break through, human contact begins and nutrition descends.
But 52 more days of arduous and uncertain drilling from above must take place.
Tobar explains brilliantly the rescue mission, unprecedented because the men are so far below the surface, the mountain is so difficult to penetrate, and the drillers must negotiate uncharted twists and turns.
After the men emerge alive, they experience hero worship and receive payments for damages. Tobar shares with readers his travels in Chile meeting with the men and their loved ones.
Happy endings? Not exactly, because some traumas never end psychologically, even if they end physically. On the other hand, life itself for each of the trapped men might qualify as a happy ending.
Steve Weinberg is the author of eight nonfiction books. He is writing a biography of Garry Trudeau.
books@dallasnews.com
Deep Down Dark
The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free
Héctor Tobar
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26)
