First of 33 miners safe above ground (Second Lead)

COPIAPO - A triumphant Florencio Avalos, 31, emerged safe above ground late Tuesday, the first of 33 miners to be rescued after more than two months of being trapped deep underground.

He stepped out of the Phoenix capsule, the 54-cm-wide tube designed and built by the Chilean Navy that made a safe journey through a narrow, 622-metre deep shaft.

It was the first known rescue of its kind from this depth and of this number of miners in the history of underground accidents.