An Owen Sound native has been covering the dramatic miners rescue in Chile.
Eva Salinas use to be a co-op student in the Bayshore Broadcasting News Centre — now she is the Editor of the Santiago Times, an English Language newspaper in Chile.
Salinas tells us covering the mine collapse in August and now the miners rescue is a remarkable and incredible story that at times, has brought her to tears.
While Salinas has not been able to talk to the miners yet, she tells us their families have been very open to share their stories of faith and hope.
Salinas tells us each miner has documented their time underground in a journal and the reporters are looking forward to hearing more about their ordeal.
But Salinas says they know the miners were very organized and rationed food underground — for example, they ate a spoonful of tuna every two days and the 33 miners shared a can of peaches.
She says some of the miners even worked underground to keep them busy.
Salinas also tells us the miners have already been offered a lot of money to do interviews — and even sign book and movie deals.
Salinas has been covering the story since the mine collapsed on August 5th and the miners were first discovered alive on August 22nd.
She says the entire country is celebrating the miners rescue.
And Salinas notes her newspaper has received countless letters from people from the around world who have prayed for the miners safe return.
As a journalist, Salinas admits it has been difficult to deal with the more than two thousand reporters who have converged on the mine area to cover the story.
But she admits it’s impossible not to feel emotional about the story.
