After 11 years, they will compensate the 33 Chilean miners who remained underground | the Chronicle

Chilean justice approved a compensation of $ 55,000 for 31 of 33 minors who have been trapped for 69 days in a mine in the north of this country.

The decision, which halves the amount approved at first instance, was adopted by the Santiago Court of Appeal after a legal dispute that lasted eight years.

The Court accredited “The negligence of state organs and the existence of the damage caused and the causal link between them“in the accident that occurred on August 5, 2010, when a landslide blocked the entrance to the San José gold and copper mine, located in Copiapo.

The 33 miners were trapped 600 meters deep. It took them 69 days to be rescued, after a metal capsule was slipped into a hole drilled for this purpose.

“If the organs of the state administration had complied with their legal obligation in the manner prescribed (…) the 33 workers would not have ended up being buried alive on the said site», Explains the decision, which can still be appealed to the Supreme Court.

The State Defense Council (CDE) appealed against the first instance decision: it understood that the life pensions granted and the private financial aid received by their families had been sufficient.

“Nothing will pay for what we’re going through, but at this point in life what I want is tranquility and peace“, He said Mario sepulveda, 50, one of the survivors. “I know there are colleagues who are having a really bad time right now and who could never work again.“added the miner.

Two of 33 affected -Luis Bustos and Juan Illanes– Withdrew from the legal action by personal decision.