All 33 Miners Rescued, 2010 Copiapó Mining Accident, Chile

Due to the worsening situation and rising concern by the Chilean population deeply sympathetic to the plight both the miners and their families, especially following closely on the heels sharp criticism the government's previous handling the latest major Chilean earthquake and tsunami, President Piñera returned to Chile from the presidential inauguration Juan Manuel Santos in Colombia to take direct charge the emergency response and the search for the lost miners.
Exploratory bore holes
Percussion drills (rotary hammer drills) were used to make 6 boreholes about 5.5 inches (15 centimeters) wide to find the miners. The rescue effort was complicated by out--date maps and several boreholes drifting f-target because notoriously hard rock that exacerbated the drill's tendency to drift. On 19 August, one the probes reached the area where the miners were believed to be trapped but found no signs life.