Chile\'s President Sebastian Pinera embraces Florencio Antonio Avalos Silva, the first miner to be rescued.
The second of 33 men has been rescued after 69 days trapped in a collapsed mine, pulled to fresh air and freedom at last in a missile-like escape capsule to the cheers of his family and countrymen.
Mario Sepulveda Espina climbed out of the rescue capsule and jubilantly hugged wife, President Sebastian Pinera and rescuers, and then handed them pieces of rock from his undergound home.
Before him, Florencio Avalos, 31, was the first of 33 miners to be rescued.
Avalos appeared in good health as he stepped out of a rescue capsule amid sobs from his young son and received a bracing bear hug from Chilean President Sebastian Pinera.
Avalos smiled widely as he hugged rescuers, then Pinera, as his wife, two sons and father looked on. His 7-year-old son Bairo sobbed, as did Chile\'s first lady, Cecilia Morel. Then Avalos was escorted into a medical triage center for the first of a battery of tests.
The capsule was then to be sent back down to pick up his trapped co-workers in a drawn-out process to be completed over two days.
Avalos\'s safe return from more than 600 meters (2,000 feet) below ground after more than 68 days represented a new record and an amazing feat of human endurance against all odds.