After three months of hell and one day of relative comfort, the first of the 33 miners recently freed from the collapsed mine in San Jose, Chile were discharged from hospital Thursday night and allowed to return to their families' care.
CNN Chile aired video shot outside the hospital showing miners identified by the network as Juan Illanes, Edison Pena and Carlos Mamani departing the hospital grounds with family members in a red van.
It was the beginning of the end of their 69 day ordeal that started when a cave-in trapped the mine workers deep below the earth with no immediate means of escape.
Weeks of waiting while packed into a tiny subterranean chamber came to a close Wednesday when an escape capsule finally reached the miners, hauling them one-by-one back to the surface.
Copiapo Regional Hospital subdirector Dr. Jorge Montes said that it is more difficult to predict the long-term psychological impact of the miners' ordeal.
科皮亞波區域醫院副院長蒙特斯表示，目前很難預測這場折磨對這些礦工會造成什麼樣的長期心理影響。
"Eventually, all could exhibit some post-traumatic stress disorder, but some people can resist it better than others," Montes said.
「所有人可能最後都會出現創傷後壓力症候群，但有些人會因應得比其他人好，」蒙特斯說。
While admitting that accidents may occur again in the future, President Pinera vowed to improve work and safety conditions not only for miners, but for all workers in Chile.
"This we can guarantee: Never again in our country are we going to permit work in such an unsafe and inhumane environment as the San Jose mine," Pinera said.
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