The operation has been followed minute by minute by international media and Chilean citizens [Reuters]
After more than two months underground, 13 miners out of 33 have now emerged from the collapsed Chilean copper mine in the Atacama desert to the excitement and relief of waiting family and friends.
Rescue teams are lifting the miners to the surface one by one in a narrow, missile-like capsule, nicknamed Phoenix.
Each miner stepping out of the capsule is being greeted by up to three family members and waiting doctors before being flown to a regional hospital for at least two days of check-ups.
The thirteenth and latest man to be rescued was 27-year-old Carlos Barrios.
Mario Gomez, 63 years old and the oldest member in the group, was the ninth miner to be pulled out safely after being fitted with a special mask to combat his breathing problems.
Describing his ascent, Gomez said: "It was very smooth, I didn't feel anything."
"He's [Gomez] a very, very experienced miner," Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman, reporting from the mine, said.
"He began mining when he was 12 years old. He was one of those with the strongest will to survive we've been told.
"With his long experience, he was able to tell the younger ones to remain calm and to have faith they would be rescued."
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