“When I saw him he looked so crushed it was almost as if he had been trapped in the mine again.” Héctor Tobar is speaking about Mario Sepúlveda, one of 33 Chilean miners who in 2010 became global news after spending 69 days entombed deep inside a mountain in the Atacama Desert.
Sepúlveda’s emergence from the subterranean prison is perhaps the most enduring image of the rescue. In front of a billion-strong TV audience, the charismatic miner nicknamed Super Mario, who had been the ebullient leader of the group during their ordeal, punched the air and led rescuers in a rousing chant of “Mineros de Chile!” However, the joy the miners felt on tasting fresh air once more was soon overtaken by the