Mal Fletcher comments

Novelists and film-makers will want to explore, as journalists are doing now, what it is within the human species that keeps us going in such dire situations.

I think that perhaps three things kept the miners alive, both physically and psychologically, since they became trapped in August. From other survival stories I've read, these seem to apply across the board.

The first is social organization within the group. The full details will doubtless emerge now that the men are free, but they seem to have formed themselves into a clearly defined social structure very early on.

Almost from the beginning of their saga, the men each took on defined work and social roles.

In his book, The Survivors Club, American journalist Ben Sherwood notes that, '[In emergency situations] people rarely lose total control and run around mindlessly. Rather, most freeze until they're told what to do.'

The foreman of the mining shift played a clear leadership role, organising work rosters to keep the men occupied and later to provide back-up for the rescue drilling operation. That early leadership helped to alleviate any sense of panic or despair, providing something approaching normalcy in a very abnormal situation.

Some of the men naturally took on roles that wouldn't normally have featured in a mining shift. A few even became well-known above ground for the roles they were playing below.

One, a lay evangelist, became the unofficial pastor, leading the men in daily prayers. Another became the group's diarist, making careful notes about how the men were dealing with their predicament. Yet another became the group's 'doctor', running checks on health and wellbeing. There was even a resident journalist, fronting frequent video reports to the world (and throwing in a 'back-to-you­-in-the-studio' on occasion).

Some of us, alive in the Jurassic era, grew up watching TV series like Gilligan's Island and M*A*S*H. In these shows, characters were thrown together by a sudden separation from the rest of the world. Individuals quickly took on specific roles which, in one way or another, sustained the rest of the group.

Of course, low-brow comedic art was only imitating life. In real-life rescue situations people need to be given structure and defined responsibility in order to focus beyond the moment and keep hope alive.

The second thing that sustained these miners was a consequence of the first. It was a strong commitment to the group as a whole, with each miner watching out for his comrades.

The Nobel laureate and famed Holocaust campaigner Elie Wiesel once recalled how solidarity among prisoners made a great difference even in Auschwitz. On his arrival, in his mid-teens, a young Pole offered some critical advice: 'Let there be camaraderie among you. We are all brothers and share the same fate. That is the only way to survive.'

For the Chileans, this not only provided social cohesion and prevented a breakdown in communication; it also left them less time for lonely introspection.

In the two months underground these men doubtless spent more than a few hours in introverted thought. Will I make it? Am I strong enough to survive? Why is this happening to me? Time alone will tell how deeply entrenched depression may have become in some of their minds, despite today's outward smiles.