Chile: Mass of Thanksgiving on anniversary of miners' rescue

Mines last year with statue of their patron St Lorenzo

A Mass of Thanksgiving and the inauguration of an exhibition in Atacama has marked the first anniversary of the collapse of the San José Mine in Chile. The celebration began at noon, (local time) in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Candelaria, patron saint of miners.

President Sebastián Piñera, his wife Cecilia Morel and most of the miners attended part along with many involved in the rescue. After the Mass, President Piñera inaugurate an exhibition: 'The Rescue that Shook the World' when he returned the famous scrap of paper with the message that the miners had survived. Miners Luis Urzúa and José Ojeda, presented the note to Magdalena Krebs, director of the Department of Archives and Museums, to be preserved and displayed to the public at the Museo Regional de Atacama.

Some campaigners and politicians refused to attend today's events, because they say there has not been any changes in safety regulations or government monitoring of the mining industry. There was also a student demonstration.

Brunilda González, mayor of Calderato explained: "Despite all the respect that the 33 miners deserve and all the suffering that they and this country lived through, we are not able to celebrate the fact that the situation for miners has become any safer. It has not."

Nearly half of the 33 miners have been unemployed since the mine collapsed one year ago. Most have given speeches about their experience, but three of them are now selling fruit and vegetables in the street and four, so far, have gone back to mining. The men have not seen any money from book or film deals.

Many have survived because of handouts from Leonardo Farkas, an eccentric Chilean millionaire and mine owner, who wrote them cheques for 5 million pesos (about £8,000), and gave each a motorcycle. But miners Claudio Yanez and Pedro Cortez have had to sell their bikes for food.

Thirty one miners are currently suing the state for failing to properly monitor the San José mine.

Mayor González said they deserve every penny of the US$16 million they are demanding as compensation from the National Geology and Mining Service. She said: "We agree with what the miners are demanding from the state because there is a responsibility of public officials to make sure the laws are followed. We're very grateful to the government and the president for what they did.

Luis Urzua, the miner who kept his team united through their harrowing ordeal, said: "We have filed this lawsuit so that people understand that everyone has the right to sue when things aren't being done correctly."

President Piñera has proposed new mining safety reforms in the Chilean Congress. will seek approval in Congress. If the proposals go ahead, they will split the National Geology and Mining Service (Sernageomin) into the Superintendency of Mining and the Geological Service of Chile.

The reform seeks to double the budget for mining oversight as well as increase the number of mine supervisors; the new Superintendency of Mining will be responsible for approving new mining projects, supervising safety at mines and issue penalties to mines that fail to comply with regulations.