The rescue operation was carried out in a few days, an engineering task that, usually, would be extended for months. The dimensions of the work were reflected in some figures offered by the government delegate in Andalusia, when he assured that more than 40,000 tons of dirt had been moved and a height equivalent to that of the Giralda in Seville was being excavated. The inventor of the rescue capsule of the Chilean miners offered his help in this rescue.[22]