SANTIAGO, Chile, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- The Chilean government granted early retirement to nearly half of the men who survived more than three months buried in a mine last year, officials said.
Chilean first lady Cecilia Morel presented 14 of the 33 miners with lifetime pension documents at a ceremony Tuesday in the town of Copiapo, near the mine site, La Cuarta reported.
"This government is committed to be with you and help you as much as we can," Morel said.
The miners who requested either physical or psychological disability to stop working will receive annuities of as much as $540 a month.
The government chose the miners based on their health, age and the opinions of other survivors.
The miners survived 69 days at the bottom of the San Jose mine, 2,300 feet below the surface, before being rescued.
