National Geographic Revisits the 69-Day Chilean Mine Rescue

The Three-Part Documentary Examines How 33 Miners Survived Underground as Chile Mounted an Unprecedented Rescue Operation Watched Around the World

Johannesburg, 10 September 2026: National Geographic will premiere Chilean Mine Rescue: Race Against Time, a three-part account of the 2010 San José mine disaster that left 33 miners trapped nearly half a mile beneath Chile’s Atacama Desert. Their ordeal lasted 69 days and prompted a Chilean-led rescue operation involving engineers, drillers, and specialists from around the world. The eventual rescue attracted an estimated global television audience of more than one billion people. Produced by Emmy Award-winning Blast Films, the three episodes will air back-to-back on Monday 28 September at 20:30 (CAT) on National Geographic (DStv 181, StarTimes 220) across Africa, with the series also available on Disney+ in South Africa.

Chilean Mine Rescue: Race Against Time tells the story of endurance, ingenuity and improbable unity behind one of history’s most challenging rescues ever attempted. It features never-before-seen cell phone footage filmed in the mine and includes powerful interviews with survivors, families and rescuers – some speaking publicly outside of local Chilean press for the first time – to tell the definitive story of the 69 days rescuers raced to save the trapped miners while the men underground fought to survive. Among those featured is Jeff Kofman, then ABC’s International Correspondent and the first international journalist on the scene, who reported from Chile as the rescue unfolded.

The series follows the miners from the moment of the collapse through the improvised order that took hold in the days underground to the engineering gamble that made the rescue possible and the fame and lasting toll that followed.

On 5 August 2010, a catastrophic collapse at the San José copper-gold mine in Chile sealed 33 miners underground. For 17 days, they were presumed dead. For 52 more, they waited while Chilean engineers and rescue teams, joined by drillers and specialists from around the world, attempted something that had never been done, as families above ground refused to leave. When the rescue capsule first surfaced, an estimated one billion people were watching – one of the largest live audiences in television history and a rare moment of shared hope across the world.

Family member looking at makeshift altar. (Mandatory credit: Television Nacional de Chile)

Chilean Mine Rescue: Race Against Time is the next installment in National Geographic’s Emmy®-winning “Race Against Time” franchise. Previous series include the winner of the Critics Choice Documentary Award for Best Historical Documentary “Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time” and the winner of the Emmy for Outstanding Historical Documentary “Tsunami: Race Against Time.”

Blast Films produced the series for National Geographic. Tanya Winston, Shona Thompson and Danny Horan are executive producers for Blast Films, with Luke Sewell serving as series editor and Chloe Campbell and James Parris directing. National Geographic’s production team includes Tom McDonald, executive vice president of Content; Bengt Anderson, senior vice president of Unscripted Production and Development; and executive producer Carolyn Payne.

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