Chilean Miners Seek Damages From Government

Virtually all of the miners who were trapped for 69 days in a Chilean mine last year have filed a lawsuit against the government, seeking more than half a million dollars each in damages.

A lawyer representing 31 of the 33 miners says he filed the civil suit Friday at a Santiago court.

The lawsuit, the miners say, is not about the money, but about setting a precedent so that such an accident does not happen again. On August 5 of last year, a cave-in at the San Jose mine trapped the 33 for months in an ordeal that ended with their heroic rescue.

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