Their 69-days of being trapped in a mining shaft sandwiched by tonnes of rocks and sand hundreds of feet below, ended on a triumphant rescue operation on Thursday as all 33 miners ascended one by one riding through an escape capsule.

All miners who emerged from beneath were relatively in good conditions but Chilean authorities maintained that medical treatments were arranged for the men, with some maybe requiring surgeries in the next few days.

The whole episode of pulling out the trapped miners was originally projected by Chilean government officials to have required at least 48 hours as only one person could be accommodated at a time by the escape capsule designed to extricate the miners from below.

However, the almost flawless rescue effort was carried out much quickly than anticipated as rescuers pulled each miner through the rescue shaft and only requiring an approximate time of 15 minutes for every miner to reach the surface.

Led by Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, rescue workers and government officials welcomed the miners with claps and cheers as each miner breathes fresh following more than two months of enduring punishing humidity down below the ground.

Medical crews quickly attended on the miners as they were strapped out from the capsule and rushed them to a nearby hospital in Copiapo to undergo thorough medical examination.

The historic rescue effort put an end to the ordeal that started when the gold and copper mine caved in on August 5, trapping all 33 miners who first endured 17 days of total isolation prior to the rescue crews reaching them.

Chile's Mining Minister Laurence Golborne expressed his appreciation on those who contributed to the completion of the rescue effort as the country's Health Minister Jaime Manalich noted that most of the miners were healthier than the government has anticipated.

Mr Manalich said that all rescued miners would be subjected to lung and heart monitoring with most to be given psychiatric treatment as needed as he added that while some of the miners would receive dental surgery due to presence of abscesses, the most serious case of ailment initially identified was pneumonia on one of the miners.

The world was captivated by the protracted rescue drama that saw some 1000 journalists from across the globe flocking into the San Jose mine in the Atacama Desert to cover the minute details of the Chilean rescue operation, aided by international experts.

Drilling teams from the United States as well as NASA experts were thanked by US President Barack Obama for contributing to the rescue effort as he and millions of people were glued on their televisions to watch the operation via live feeds from the site.

The last two months also saw the almost spontaneous formation of a community just outside of the mining site, comprising of the miners' relatives and rescue crews, which was named Camp Hope.

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