SANTO DOMINGO | Two miners trapped underground in the Dominican Republic for 10 days were able to return to the surface on Tuesday after a rescue operation that captivated the country, their company said.
“The rescue took place at 11:16 a.m. after access was opened through the new diversion tunnel called Rescue Route B, one of two routes created since the rescue plan began,” the Dominican Mining Corporation said in a statement (Cormidom), operating a Canadian concession.
Gregores Mendez, a Dominican, and Carlos Yepez Ospina, a Colombian, were cut off from all contact with the surface on July 31 after a landslide at this mine in Cerro de Maimon, some 80 km north of Santo Domingo.
More than 70 experts and around 40 technicians from all over the country were involved in the rescue. A Canadian military plane had brought 26 tons of state-of-the-art machinery and tools for rescue operations on Sunday.
President Luis Abinader released a video greeting the two miners, who appear smiling and in good spirits.
“The whole country has been watching you very happily,” he told them. The press did not have access to the rescue area. Mr. Abinader had already visited the site on Thursday and spoke to the two buried minors by radio.
In the video, Carlos Yepez assured Ospina that the two men benefited from “good conditions” underground: “ventilation, water, food, everything”.
“We also slept well, which made the stay less difficult”, even if “the first few days were complicated”.
Cormidom owns one of the country’s most important concessions, covering 3,400 hectares according to its website, which does not provide production data.
Its President, Paul Marinko, assures in a press release that the company “respects international standards in terms of security and emergency response”.
Rescue operations are underway in Mexico to try to save 10 miners trapped underground since Wednesday when their coal mine flooded and partially collapsed. No contact has been made with them since then.