On 5 August 2010, 33 miners disappeared beneath the Atacama Desert.
A catastrophic collapse at Chile’s San José copper-gold mine sealed the men nearly half a mile underground. For 17 days, they were presumed dead.
Then came a discovery that changed everything.
The miners were alive.
What followed became one of the most extraordinary rescue efforts ever attempted. For another 52 days, engineers, rescuers, drillers and specialists from Chile and around the world worked against time, while families above ground refused to leave.
Now, more than 16 years later, National Geographic is taking viewers back underground.
The Story Behind the Headlines
CHILEAN MINE RESCUE: RACE AGAINST TIME offers an inside account of the disaster, the desperate wait and the engineering gamble that ultimately made the rescue possible.
The three-part series comes from Emmy Award-winning Blast Films and forms the latest instalment in National Geographic’s Emmy-winning “Race Against Time” franchise.
But this is not simply a retelling of a rescue the world watched unfold.
The series features never-before-seen cell phone footage filmed inside the mine by the miners themselves.
That footage offers a perspective from beneath the earth that audiences have not seen before.
The documentary also brings together powerful interviews with survivors, families and rescuers. Six of the miners featured make their first international documentary appearances.
Among those featured is Jeff Kofman, then ABC’s International Correspondent and the first international journalist on the scene. He reported from Chile as the rescue unfolded.
69 Days Beneath the Earth
The series follows the miners from the moment the mine collapsed.
It explores how an improvised sense of order developed underground as the men confronted an uncertain fate.
Above ground, the rescue operation grew into an international effort.
Chilean engineers and rescue teams worked alongside drillers and specialists from around the world. They faced an extraordinary challenge: finding a way to reach 33 men trapped deep beneath the surface.
Meanwhile, their families waited.
And waited.
For 69 days, the world watched the race to bring them home.
A Billion People Were Watching
When the rescue capsule finally surfaced, the moment became a global television event.
An estimated one billion people watched the historic rescue unfold.
It was one of the largest live audiences in television history and became a rare moment of shared hope around the world.
But behind that extraordinary public moment was a much more complicated story.
CHILEAN MINE RESCUE: RACE AGAINST TIME also explores what happened after the miners emerged — including the fame and lasting toll that followed.
The result is a story about endurance, ingenuity and improbable unity.
A New Chapter in an Emmy-Winning Franchise
The documentary joins National Geographic’s acclaimed “Race Against Time” franchise.
Previous instalments include Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time, which won the Critics Choice Documentary Award for Best Historical Documentary, and Tsunami: Race Against Time, which won the Emmy for Outstanding Historical Documentary.
With CHILEAN MINE RESCUE: RACE AGAINST TIME, the franchise turns its attention to one of the most closely watched rescue operations in modern history.
When to Watch
The wait is almost over.
CHILEAN MINE RESCUE: RACE AGAINST TIME premieres on Monday, 28 September 2026, with all three episodes airing back-to-back from 20:30 CAT on National Geographic across Africa.
It will be available on DStv 181 and StarTimes 220.
In South Africa, the series will also be available on Disney+.
For a story that captivated more than a billion viewers, the new series offers an opportunity to look beyond the iconic images of the rescue and into the human story beneath them.
33 men went underground.
69 days later, the world watched them come back.
