The Gate That Opened by Itself

In 2010, a Chilean copper mine collapsed, trapping thirty-three miners nearly half a mile underground. For seventeen days, no one on the surface knew if any of them were alive. Families gathered at Camp Hope, holding vigils, praying around the clock. Engineers said the rescue shaft would take four months to drill. The rock was too hard. The margin for error was impossibly thin — a deviation of even a few degrees would miss the shelter entirely.…