0:00:02 > 0:00:05This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:08 > 0:00:13On August 5th, 2010, a massive explosion rocked this landscape
0:00:13 > 0:00:16and 33 miners were trapped half a mile below.
0:00:52 > 0:00:58For 17 days, the miners had no contact with the world outside.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02Until now, there has been a pact not to speak about what happened
0:01:02 > 0:01:07when the mountain collapsed and forced them to confront their worst nightmares.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19As the miners began the hour-long drive underground
0:01:19 > 0:01:24that August morning, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27The copper mine at San Jose was notorious.
0:01:27 > 0:01:32It paid higher wages to compensate for a bad safety record.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35For Mario Sepulveda, a Jehovah's Witness,
0:01:35 > 0:01:40that extra money supported his mission to drag his family out of poverty.
0:02:14 > 0:02:20Samuel Avalos was new to mining after a life on the streets selling CDs.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24Mining provided him with his first regular wage.
0:02:45 > 0:02:50For Victor Zamora, the state of the mine was a constant concern.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54His job was to shore up weak sections of the tunnel.
0:03:31 > 0:03:37Now, six of the miners recall the untold story of those first 17 days.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42And fellow miners help reconstruct what took place underground.
0:05:07 > 0:05:08CRASHING
0:05:14 > 0:05:16MEN SHOUT
0:05:16 > 0:05:18CRASHING
0:05:23 > 0:05:25MEN SHOUT
0:06:29 > 0:06:34No-one was even sure how many men were down the mine.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39Victor Zamora just remembers working his way up the main tunnel through the chaos.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15RUMBLING
0:09:22 > 0:09:24SIRENS
0:09:27 > 0:09:32Over 2,000 feet above the trapped miners, the first rescuers were arriving.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40With no proper maps of the mine, they had to improvise
0:09:40 > 0:09:45as they tried to work out where any survivors might be located.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58With the mountain still unstable,
0:09:58 > 0:10:02the first rescuers drove down the main tunnel, taking a camera
0:10:02 > 0:10:06to see if there was still a way through to any survivors.
0:10:22 > 0:10:28Back at the mine entrance, a manager read a roll-call of the names of the missing, feared dead.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57Far below, the miners found their way to the emergency bunker.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07There they were able to establish for the first time who had been trapped.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14Mario Sepulveda prayed for inspiration.
0:11:32 > 0:11:37Sepulveda led a team to inspect the escape shafts.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40Carlos Barrios remembers what they discovered.
0:11:40 > 0:11:46The shafts had not been properly maintained and sections of the escape ladders were missing.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57The men were expecting to find at least two days' supply of food,
0:12:57 > 0:12:59as required by mine regulations.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Management had, once again, failed to prepare for an emergency.
0:13:44 > 0:13:50- Zamora?- O!- Como esta alla? - Vamos a ver aqui!
0:14:26 > 0:14:31The 33 men had to accept that there would be no way out that night.
0:15:24 > 0:15:31As the men tried to sleep, the rescuers were discovering the extent of the damage.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35Eight separate levels of the mine had collapsed on top of each other -
0:15:35 > 0:15:39a rock fall the size of the Empire State Building.
0:15:41 > 0:15:46Wives and relatives from the nearby town of Copiapo had begun to arrive,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49including Lily Gomez, wife of the oldest miner.
0:16:37 > 0:16:43Rescuers were now exploring the same escape shafts the trapped men had tried to climb.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44INAUDIBLE
0:17:50 > 0:17:54THEY SHOUT
0:18:16 > 0:18:21The miners used drills and car horns in an attempt to be heard above.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26And they lit fires in the hope that the smoke would travel up the escape shafts.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29Anything to signal they were still alive.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32SHOUTING
0:19:20 > 0:19:24The temperature in the mine was over 40 degrees,
0:19:24 > 0:19:28but the men could drink from the large supply of industrial water
0:19:28 > 0:19:30stored to cool the drilling equipment.
0:19:32 > 0:19:38They also removed batteries and headlamps from the vehicles to rig up makeshift lights.
0:20:28 > 0:20:34On the third day, there was a further collapse, which made rescue via the main tunnel impossible.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42The Minister for Mining reported to the families.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00The news was too much for Lily Gomez.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14# Ave...
0:22:14 > 0:22:20# Ave Dominus
0:22:20 > 0:22:25# Dominus tecum
0:22:25 > 0:22:33# Benedicta tu in mulieribus
0:22:34 > 0:22:42# Et benedictus... #
0:23:20 > 0:23:23The daily prayers were followed by a general meeting,
0:23:23 > 0:23:29at which decisions were taken by voting, establishing a democracy from the beginning.
0:25:40 > 0:25:46The miners had established daily routines, but still had no idea if anyone was even looking for them.
0:25:46 > 0:25:51For four days they had heard nothing from the surface.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40By day five, Lily Gomez had brought most of her family up the mine
0:28:40 > 0:28:45and, along with other relatives, set up camp.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48Their protest was a magnet for national TV news.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53It ensured the authorities could not abandon the missing men.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55Their campaign succeeded.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59Soon drills began to appear from all over Chile.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42Five days and still no sign of a rescue attempt.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46Some of the men began to lose hope.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44THEY CHANT
0:30:48 > 0:30:50THEY LAUGH
0:31:11 > 0:31:14The rescuers still had no accurate map of the mine.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17Nevertheless, by the end of the first week,
0:31:17 > 0:31:21a whole series of drills started pounded the desert floor,
0:31:21 > 0:31:24all aiming for a tunnel half a mile below.
0:32:53 > 0:32:59The miners knew that the probes would take days, maybe weeks, to hammer through the rock.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02Each of them found his own way of killing time.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49POP SONG PLAYS
0:37:14 > 0:37:20One teaspoon of food every two days was beginning to divide the strong from the weak.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25The heat and humidity only made the situation worse.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34HORNS BLARE
0:40:39 > 0:40:42The two-week anniversary of the accident was marked
0:40:42 > 0:40:46with the sounding of horns at what had become known as Camp Hope.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57The families were told by the authorities
0:40:57 > 0:41:01that one of the probes might reach the emergency bunker that night.
0:41:33 > 0:41:38Down below, the miners were equally convinced they were about to be found.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09DRILLING NOISE
0:42:33 > 0:42:38The rescuers sent a camera down the borehole to see where the probe had ended up.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41They saw nothing but rock and rubble,
0:42:41 > 0:42:45not realising they were just feet from the missing men.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55The families began to lose faith in the experts.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46The starving miners were now facing the final taboo.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13WOMEN SING
0:49:43 > 0:49:45DRILLING
0:51:01 > 0:51:03CHEERING
0:52:05 > 0:52:07THEY CHANT
0:54:12 > 0:54:15So, on day 17, the rescuers' camera found not rubble
0:54:17 > 0:54:20but the first images of the missing men.
0:54:20 > 0:54:25They would have to wait another 52 days before they could be brought to the surface.
0:54:36 > 0:54:41Meanwhile, the international media had descended on San Jose.
0:54:41 > 0:54:47The emergence of the first miners, like Mario Sepulveda, transformed a disaster into a miracle.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04- MAN LAUGHS - Mario! Mario!
0:55:05 > 0:55:08Vale, vale, vale! Vale, gracias!
0:55:13 > 0:55:20Over the next 24 hours, the world watched as the men emerged from the capsule one by one.
0:55:53 > 0:55:57APPLAUSE
0:55:59 > 0:56:06As each miner stepped into the light, they found themselves engulfed by worldwide fame.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10CROWD CHANTS
0:56:18 > 0:56:24Yet privately they're still haunted by the memory of what they lived through.
0:57:40 > 0:57:43No-one has been held responsible for the accident,
0:57:43 > 0:57:47though the owners and the government are being taken to court by the 33 miners.
0:57:50 > 0:57:56Today, the mine at San Jose is abandoned and permanently closed.
0:58:38 > 0:58:41Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:41 > 0:58:44E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk