All but two of the men who spent 69 days trapped in a Chilean mine have left hospital.
The first three of the 33 men were cleared to leave a hospital late yesterday, returning to neighbors' cheers a day after their stunning rescue from the collapsed mine in Chile's remote northern desert.
28 of the miners were released today, while two were referred to another facility for further treatment.
The miners have became global media stars since their widely watched rescue and have been showered with job offers and gifts, including invitations to visit the Greek isles and Graceland and invitations to attend European football matches.
In the Copiapo neighborhood of Til-Til Bajo, near the hospital, neighbours of rescued miners Pedro Cortes and Carlos Bugueno hung streamers and orange, pink and yellow flags from lampposts in anticipation of their arrival.
Miner tells of experience
One of the miners, Richard Villaroel, gave a brief interview to Chilean public broadcaster TVN that gave powerful insights into their harrowing experiences.
'We all supported each other. When one of us found it tough, the comrade at his side helped him,' said Mr Villaroel, the day after the 27-year-old mechanic emerged to be greeted by his pregnant wife.
Mr Villaroel said that despite trying conditions in the dark, dank and hot hole, where the miners survived for 17 days on fragments of food before being discovered, decisions were reached calmly and democratically.
'If a decision was taken in which one person lost, most would still be winners,' he explained. 'The food was distributed in small portions, something that would last, the same for water.'
He also recalled his anguish when disaster struck on 5 August.
'When the second rockfall came, that was the scariest moment because the mine was completely blocked. I thought that I would never see my wife again or the birth of my son.'
In the hospital, the miners still wore the dark glasses they received to protect their weakened eyes when they emerged from the mine in the narrow Phoenix 2 rescue capsule.
Shared funds
The men now have the challenge of charting out a life forever changed by their ordeal.
Suddenly, they are household names in Chile and media stars around the world. They have been flooded with requests for interviews.
But Omar Reygadas, the son of one of the miners with the same name, said the men wanted everything to be shared equally.
'The miners have told the authorities they want to set up a foundation. They want it to cover everything (royalties from documentaries, films or books), and to cover all 33,' he said.
Television stations around the globe covered their rescue live, while Facebook and Twitter users swapped stories about the miners and newspapers everywhere made them the front-page story turning them into instant celebrities.
Officials said they would seal up the escape shaft at the mine, which Mr Pinera has placed a symbolic metal cover over, and dismantle the equipment there. Much of it is being tagged for inclusion in a future museum.
The president said the long rescue operation had cost up to $20m (€14.28), around a third of which Mining Minister Laurence Golborne estimated had been donated by private companies in the form of machinery and expertise.
