AUGUST 5th:A cave-in leaves 33 miners trapped about 625m (2,050ft) underground in a small copper and gold mine near the northern Chilean city of Copiapo, 800km (500 miles) north of Santiago.
The mine’s owners, local private company Compania Minera San Esteban Primera, notifies authorities several hours later, saying they first had to evaluate the situation.
AUGUST 6th:Minister for mining Laurence Golborne cuts short a visit to Ecuador and flies back to Chile to lead the rescue effort in Copiapo.
Mine authorities pin their hopes on the possibility that the trapped miners have reached a shelter where oxygen, water and food had been stored.
August 7th: Rescue workers, who began descending toward the shelter via a ventilation shaft on August 6th, are forced to abandon that route when another cave-in blocks the duct.
President Sebastian Pinera cuts short his visit to Colombia and returns to Chile to be with family members of the trapped miners at a temporary camp established outside the mine.
August 8th:Rescue workers begin drilling boreholes 12cm (5in) in diameter in an attempt to locate the miners.
August 11th:President Pinera sacks the head of Chile's mining regulator, known as Sernageomin, and vows to conduct a major overhaul of the body which monitors mine safety.
August 19th:The farthest-along drill reaches the level where authorities presumed the miners to be, but does not hit the shelter or encounter any signs of the miners.
August 22nd:Early in the day, a drill reaches a depth of 688m (2,260ft) and rescue workers hear tapping on the drill. Early in the afternoon, President Pinera announces the miners had tied a note to the drill that said: "The 33 of us in the shelter are well."
Hours later, rescue workers capture the first video images of the miners, showing them to be in much better condition than expected. Golborne and Andre Sougarret, head of the rescue drilling operation, say the rescue of the miners will take three to four months, given the instability of the mine and the time needed to drill a new hole, about 66cm (2ft) in diameter, to extract them.
August 23rd:Food, water and medicine are lowered to the miners, who are running low on supplies found in the rescue chamber.
September 17th:A rescue drill reaches the miners. The small hole is widened over the next month to prepare for their evacuation.
October 4th:Mr Golborne says the miners could be rescued in the second half of October.
October 8th:Mr Golborne says a rescue shaft could reach the miners as early as that day and evacuation of the miners could begin the next week.
October 9th:Rescue workers finish drilling an escape shaft about 625m (2,050ft) long to a slightly higher part of the tunnel, triggering jubilant celebrations.
The government says that the men will be evacuated within days.
October 11th:Rescue workers finish reinforcing the escape shaft with metal tubes to avoid any last-minute disaster and successfully test one of the evacuation capsules. The government says it will start to raise the men to the surface on Tuesday night.
October 12th:Mr Golborne says the evacuation will start on Tuesday afternoon.
– (Reuters)