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bring down the paloma. >> paloma means dove. it's what rescue workers like dr. john ramanioni call the tubes, delivering the miners food, supplies and medicine. miner mario sepulveda documents life underground, asking alex vega how he's doing. [ speaking spanish ] >> translator: i started taking medication every 12 hours. by the second day i was feeling much better. >> translator: the first time i talk to my wife over video conference, i said how are you, my love? have you paid the bills? >> what did she tell you? >> translator: why are you worried about the bills? let's talk about how we are doing. >> ariel ticona's wife is nine months pregnant, and it's unsafe for her to visit the mine.
>> translator: i would stop before the virgin that's there and do a sign of the cross. sometimes i would light a candle to ask for protection during the workday. >> it's something he does but doesn't really believe in. he says he's not religious. 29-year-old ariel ticona is at san jose as well. the son of a miner, he's expecting his third child. a sonogram taken yesterday shows his wife elizabeth is having a girl. for ariel, jorge, and the other miners the work is grueling. hours of backbreaking and dangerous labor. that morning, is there something different? >> translator: the mine was rumbling. there were large cracks in the ceiling and on the floor of the ramp in several places.
down below soccer fan ariel ticona is anxious for the birth of his daughter. the little girl who is helping him stay alive. >> translator: we would pray at noon every day. on the day my wife was due i asked for a prayer so that everything would be okay. >> on september 14th hope is born. [ baby crying ] you were able to see your daughter's birth. >> translator: yes, it was an edited version of the recording. it was a short clip that looped. >> a short video clip in a teleconference for a proud dad buried beneath the desert. >> do you remember ariel ticona's reaction when he saw -- >> he would start crying like a baby. and his wife too. i was with the little girl in my hands. and they couldn't stop crying. >> did baby hope give people
>> and his little hope is a big sister. ariel alejandro ticona segovia is welcomed into the world on july 9th. this new child also comes during a very trying time. but ariel refuses to let his struggles get the best of him. >> translator: every time i come here i remember the happy moments i shared with the other miners. >> does that help you keep living? >> it gives me strength. we have to learn from the bad things in life. sometimes in life you smile. sometimes you cry. but from those tears you have to find happiness. >> a symbol of that resilience, the cross designed to memorialize dead miners now stands where 33 men got a second
>> at what point do you realize, i'm not going to see my family tomorrow? >> translator: when we were trying to look for an exit and the dirt and the dust didn't let us move forward, all the while the mountain keeps rumbling. >> they sell them this little refuge which was supposed to be stocked with all sorts of survival food. but these guys had like stocked it with chocolate chip cookies, with chocolate milk, crackers, juice, and lots of tuna fish. >> ariel ticona raids the trash. >> you find food. and you eat it? >> translator: basically not real food. just fruit rinds. >> he drinks sour milk, hoping it keeps him alive long enough to see his unborn child. >> your daughter. you wanted to meet her. >> translator: of course. i felt helpless that i could leave this world without meeting my daughter.
except hollywood. the miners' final shot at fortune is a book and movie deal. the film opens this year. if it's a success, the miners could make substantial profits. >> i always hope that they make $100,000 each. a beautiful ending to this proehl tragedy. >> a tragedy times two. a recent freak rainstorm in the area around the san jose mine, one of the driest places on earth, killed more than a dozen people. thousands are flooded from their homes, including ariel ticona. >> translator: the force of the water was incredible. in seconds the house flooded in with water and mud. >> ariel's family is living with his mother. he's had trouble finding employment. like many of the miners, his only income is a government pension. $500 a month. about half of what the men made
>> surviving the collapse is the first of many unexplainable occurrences that marked this catastrophe. another, rock doesn't completely block the air shafts, and thick dust doesn't clog the miners' lungs. just swallowing all the dust. they were pretty much blind. miners wander looking for an escape. >> they see this smooth face of rock, which is really strange. >> they are gigantic pieces of the main ramp, collapsed on top of one another. >> they climb up through the air shafts, and the next level, the same face of rock. go up another level, the same face of rock. and that's when they start to realize that they're in for a different kind of entrapment. ariel ticona's family is terrified.
mountain had just collapsed upon them. >> [ speaking spanish ]. >> so lots of dust. you couldn't see anything. i am not going to see my mother again. >> ariel ticona is with most of the other men near the bottom of the mine. >> translator: we were waiting for the truck to take us up for lunch when we felt a very strong shock wave and we had to protect our ears.