A time for living and lovin' ... Yonni Barrios and Susana Valenzuela hold each other after rescue
Mine Utd to take on the Rescuer XI
THE football-mad miners are to form a team to take on officials and rescuers who helped bring them to safety.
Revealing plans for the match on October 25, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera joked: "The winners will get La Moneda (the presidential palace) and the losers will have to go back into the mine."
The miners' side will be captained by ex-Chilean international Franklin Lobos, 53 - who played keepy-uppy when he became the 27th man to emerge from the mine in the world's biggest underground rescue.
Yesterday Chile's football federation offered the former taxi driver a job with its youth team.
It was also organising a Copa 33 tournament in honour of the miners.
Remember our miracle
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By JULIO ARELLANO, Owner of Chilean diner in Liverpool
THE Chilean people made a wonderful thing out of what could have been a tragedy.
The miracle of the miners will be a great thing for Chile in years to come. In the past we have been saddled with the memories of Pinochet and the earthquake disaster.
Now the world will think of Chile and the miracle. We've been so skilful in the rescue. It makes you very proud.
My father was a miner and I remember him coming home every night, white as a ghost from the limestone he had been digging in all day.
Chileans are similar to Brits - when something like this happens we come together.
The people's will got those miners out faster than might otherwise have happened.
Trapped miners pit on the side
A TRAPPED Chilean miner dreads rescue as wife has discovered he has a mistress
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Exclusive
Bed hop Chile fella in sex vow
From EMILY NASH in Copiapo, Chile
Published: Today
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THE buxom mistress of rescued Chilean miner Yonni Barrios told last night how his first words to her were: "I'm going to take you to bed for a few days."
But randy Yonni, 50, will have to wait a while to get his hands on thrilled Susana Valenzuela.
He was forced to spend a second night in a packed hospital ward for more medical checks with most of the other 32 saved pitmen.
And while 52-year-old Susana told of her joy at having Yonni back, his cheated wife Marta, 56, said: "She's welcome to him."
Lover Susana Valenzuela ... 'He told
me I'm taking you straight to bed'
DAN CHARITY
Marta, who told before the rescue how she only had "two or three days of happiness" in their 28-year marriage, added: "I'm not even going to watch him on TV. I know he is OK and that's enough for me."
Yonni and all the other jubilant miners joined Chile's proud president Sebastian Pinera for a historic photo yesterday at Copiapo Hospital, near the San Jose copper and gold pit where they spent 69 fear-filled days.
They wore dressing gowns and slippers. And they were shielded from harsh light by £280 Oakley shades that made them look like international celebrities - which in a way they have become.
Wife Marta Barrios ... 'I won't watch
him on TV. She's welcome to him'
DAN CHARITY
Most laughed and joked. And all but three were in remarkably good health. Two are suffering from the lung disease silicosis. And Mario Gomez - the oldest of the group at 63 - has been diagnosed with pneumonia. But he was said to be responding well to antibiotics.
Two miners have undergone dental surgery to treat gum infections and one has a corneal ulcer. All 33 have adjusted well to natural light, though most kept the sunspecs on to help.
Wild celebrations erupted across Chile after shift leader Luis Urzua, 54, became the final man to be brought to the surface at 1.56am UK time yesterday - concluding the world's greatest underground rescue.
But Susana was thinking only of Yonni, a trained paramedic who acted as the miners' doctor during their captivity 2,300ft down.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, she revealed he had been terrified he might not survive to be reunited with her - which she said had made him "very frisky".
Raised from sweltering hell ... Yonni Barrios during ordeal
She added: "Even before he got out he was telling me, 'I can't wait to come home. I'm going to take you straight to bed.' But there's not much you can do in a hospital full of miners and their families."
Yonni was the 21st man to emerge from the rescue capsule Phoenix on Wednesday.
He grinned with delight as Susana ran into his arms, sobbed with joy on his shoulder and kissed him.
His rescuers ribbed him about his reputation as a ladykiller, shouting: "Go Tarzan!"
Susana said: "When he held me in his arms we were both so emotional we could barely speak. But he said, 'I love you and I'm so happy you're here.'
"I was shocked by how thin he was but so happy the nightmare was over.
"We are very much in love and we're going to be together from now on."
Ordeal ... Yonni Barrios
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The couple, who have been secret lovers for nearly ten years, had talked about setting up home together before the August 5 cave-in that triggered the drama.
But Yonni was still married to Marta and stepfather to her four children. Susana said: "Marta only paid attention to him when she wanted money. So when I met him I did everything I could to make him feel happy and loved.
"I wouldn't care if he had no money at all - I just want to be with him."
Despite Yonni's rampant desires, Susana said he is a "quiet man".
And they do not intend to throw a big celebration party.
The mistress said: "We just want to spend some time alone together. We will probably sit and listen to our favourite music by Nana Mouskouri and Demis Roussos, and I will cook for him.
"He has lost a lot of weight so I'm going to make him some pasties and his favourite chicken and chips."
Yonni is not the only love cheat caught out while trapped.
Carlos Barrios, 27, has a five-year-old son with his wife. But his girlfriend of seven months is pregnant.
Another miner reportedly has four women fighting over him.
As the rescue ended, hundreds of revellers at Camp Hope raced to the hillside by the mine to dance among the 33 flags placed there soon after the collapse.
The site was quickly dubbed "the 33 graves we never needed".
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THREE of the miners, one of whom was confirmed as Edison Pena, 34, left hospital early this morning.
Elvis fan Edison and the other two men, whose identities were not immediately confirmed by officials, were given the green light from doctors to head home.
They left in a services vehicle which was mobbed by photographers and camera operators.
Read more:
Chilean miner Yonni Barrios’s sex vow to mistress Susana Valenzuela | The Sun |News