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The miners' rescue is over in Chile, but nevertheless,
a small, but somewhat odd contribution –
an Israeli innovation of copper-infused socks
protected the miners' skin
from the high humidity in the mine.
Here's Sara Beck's report.
Chi-Chi-Chi! Le-Le-Le!
The miners of Chile!
The 33 most famous miners in the world
returned home today, in a religious ceremony
in the area where their families waited for them
during the 69 days they were trapped.
When there's such a heroic success story,
the Israelis want to be a part of it.
And you'll be surprised to hear – Israelis played an important part
in saving the Chileans.
How? Through their socks.
They sent them down for us to try on, to help us out.
It turns out that after being trapped underground for 30 days,
enduring a temperature of 30C and 90% humidity
with their feet soaking wet,
the miners were sent down through a narrow supply shaft
special socks that were developed here in Israel, in Modiin.
The socks are made with copper,
a mineral that we have very little of in our body.
The miners said that since they started wearing the socks,
the fungus on their feet disappeared.
Fungus can spread
to the entire body,
which can lead to a health catastrophe.
The ex-Israeli dermatologist
who received the miners at the hospital
was surprised by their physical condition.
When I first examined them,
I was very surprised
not to find any fungus on their feet or bodies.
We thought the miners would stay here for about a week
as we expected to see severe injuries,
but they stayed only 48 hours and went home.
Copper is essential to our bodies,
we are supposed to eat
about one mg of copper a day.
We have a lot of experience, there are no side effects
and the chances of developing any due to skin contact with copper
are very low.
Now Cupron is cooperating with the Israeli doctor
in the mining area to research the matter.
One thing's for sure – all the companies
that volunteered to donate to the Chilean miners
didn't lose too much by doing so.