Atlanta was no different than the rest of the world, transfixed to Wednesday's TV images of Chilean miners being pulled to safety after a 69-day ordeal in an underground tomb.
People everywhere felt a connection to the dramatic South American rescue, none more so than Fernando Farias, 52, a Chilean native turned Atlantan resident. He personally knew Franklin Lobos, the 27th miner -- out of an expected 33 -- who made the half-mile ascent in a missile-like chamber to fresh air, emotional relatives and, wanted or unwanted, certain celebrity for surviving a mineshaft collapse longer than anyone.
At 6:20 p.m. ET, Lobos reached ground level wearing a green jacket, blue mining helmet and sunglasses and received hugs and cheers from a waiting group. The last miner was supposed to be extricated by sunrise on Thursday, if not sooner.
More than 4,000 miles away in Georgia's largest city, Farias was joined by 50 friends and relatives who stayed up to 4 a.m. nervously watching their fellow countrymen removed from the San Juan gold and copper mine near Copiapo, hoping to catch an early morning glimpse of Lobos. The two men met 20 years earlier, when Farias was a youth soccer coach in Chile and Lobos was a professional player. They last spoke five years ago, when Farias called his younger friend on a whim to catch up.
"This is huge; the whole world was interested," said Farias, who moved to Atlanta a decade ago and cleans houses for a living, through a translator. "This is what the world needs. We are so tired of negative news and tragedies. It was so necessary to have something so positive to hold onto."
In this instance, it was the perfectly executed recovery of miners stranded in harrowing fashion by the Aug. 5 collapse of 700,000 tons of rock, with the outcome allowing the coastal country to swell with national pride. In Santiago, the nation's capital and nearly 500 miles south of the mine, a chorus of car horns honked loudly. In Copiapo, home to 24 of the miners, the mayor canceled school so parents and children could "watch the rescue in the warmth of the home."
Alfredo Ovalle, director of the Chilean American Chamber of Commerce of the South, said the heroic rescue had done a lot to lift the spirits of a country devastated on Feb. 27 by a massive 8.8 earthquake, which killed hundreds and displaced more than one million Chileans.
"Many are still grieving; there were many bad and horrible stories to tell," Ovalle said. "Now is totally the opposite."
News crews from the U.S., Europe and the Middle East carried live coverage of the mine rescue. Pope Benedict XVI said in Spanish that he "continues with hope to entrust to God's goodness" the fate of the men. Iran's state English-language Press TV followed the events live until President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad touched down in Lebanon on his first state visit there.
Just after midnight in Copiapo on Wednesday, Florencio Avalos, 31, was the first miner brought to the surface. Avalos smiled broadly and was hugged, in order, by his son, 7, and his wife and Chilean President Sebastian Pinera. Avalos stepped out as bystanders cheered, clapped and broke into a chant of the country's name: "Chi! Chi! Chi! Le! Le! Le!"
An hour later, Mario Sepulveda was the second to gain his freedom, bounding out and thrusting a fist upward like a prizefighter. His shouts could be heard before he became visible. He hugged his wife and handed out souvenir rocks from the mine to laughing rescuers.
"I think I had extraordinary luck. I was with God and with the devil. And I reached out for God," Sepulveda said memorably, before boarding a military helicopter, one that would ferry him to a nearby hospital where all of the miners would spend 48 hours under medical observation.
Jimmy Sanchez, who at 19 was the youngest and the father of a months-old baby he hadn't seen, was the fifth to emerge. After Sanchez's ascent, the rescuers paused to lubricate the spring-loaded wheels that gave the capsule a smooth ride through the shaft, then resumed the
The ninth person rescued, Mario Gomez, who at 63 was the oldest miner, dropped to his knees after he emerged, bowed his head in prayer and clutched the Chilean flag. His wife, Liliane Ramirez, pulled him up from the ground and embraced him.
In metro Atlanta, transplanted Chileans, estimated at 1,500, kept vigil throughout the region and praised the rescue effort as they received day-long updates from TV news accounts or urgent calls from relatives.
Ernesto Araya, the Chilean-born owner of the Sausalito West Coast Grill in Midtown, said he never doubted the men would survive. Mining in Chile is one of the country's leading industries (providing 40 percent of state earnings) and everyone there is affected by it in some manner, he said. Araya is the grandson of a former Chilean miner.
"Your first trip to the mine is when you are 8 to 10 years old; you follow your dad or your grandpa to the mine," Araya said. "The guys handled it so well because they are used to the [environment] of the mines."
Ovalle, whose Chilean family members work in the mining industry, felt overwhelmed by the success of the rescue operation and the joy expressed by people at the scene.
"We can feel, from the distance, the emotion of their families when they see their loved ones coming out one by one," the local Chilean chamber official said. "We are so happy the story is coming with a happy end."
Chilean-born Atlantans also said their native country provided a great example for others to follow globally in future mining rescue attempts. "I think it's very important not just for the mining community, but also for the medicine, technology and communication, for everybody," Pia Varona of Druid Hills said.
Farias, the Atlanta man who counted one of the stranded miners as a good friend, said he alternately prayed, watched and worried on Wednesday as the rescue unfolded. Farias said he planned to call Franklin Lobos again, and soon.
Mundo Hispanico writer Mauricio Fuentes and the Associated Press contributed to this article.
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