The Rescue of the 33 Miners Fill in any missing articles a/an/the or leave the space empty if no article is needed ____ successful rescue of 33 miners fr om the San Jose gold and copper mine in ____ Chile on 13 th October was ____ big news story all over ____ world. In fact, around one billion people watched at least some of it on ___ TV. ____ men had been trapp ed underground for longer than any other miners in ___ history 69 days in total. ___ story began on 5 th August when the roof of part of ___ mine collapsed, trapping the men 700 metres beneath ___ surface. On 22 nd August it was discovered that ____ miners were still alive, and so ____ rescue effort began. While ___ rescuers started drilling a 700m hole that would be wide enough for ___ miners to escape through, ____ miners themselves did ___ vital job by clearing away ___ pieces of rock that fell down ____ hole during the drilling. ____ NASA and ____ Chilean navy together made ____ res cue capsule – ___ kind of very narrow lift that would be able to carry ___ miners, one by one, up to the surface. No miner with ____ waistline of more than 90cm would be able to fit inside, however, so ____ few of them had to do extra exercise to lose ___ weight. On 12 th October ____ Phoenix 2 capsule carried ____ first member of a team of rescuers down the mine: they would stay there until all 33 of the miners had been taken to the surface. Phoenix 2 took around 15 minutes to lift each miner to the surface. ___ first miner arrived shortly after midnight on 13 th October, ___ last 22 hours later, around 10pm. Since ____ rescue the miners have had to get used to ____ fact that they are now celebrities, with journalists queuing up to talk to them. Sudd enly they are now receiving VIP treat ment: Manchester United and Real Madrid, for example, have invited all 33 of them to travel to ____ Europe to watch football matches at their stadiums. As for Phoenix 2, it soon became ___ tourist attraction, going on display in ____ Chilean capital, Santiago. ____ cost of the rescue wa s probably somewhere between 10 and 20 million US dollars, but anyone who saw ____ moving pictures of the miners reaching the surface and seeing their loved ones again – coming ‘back from ___ dead’, as s ome newspapers described it – would agree that ___ end r esult was priceless. Adapted from Inside Out - www.insideout.net
