The operation to raise 33 trapped Chilean miners has begun as the first rescue worker entered the escape shaft in a purpose-built capsule.
President Sebastian Pinera wished Manuel Gonzalez luck and said: "Bring them back well."
The miners have been entombed for 69 days since the San Jose mine collapsed in August.
Underground cameras showed Mr Gonzalez, a mining rescue expert with Chile's state copper company Codelco, reaching the men and being warmly embraced.
Rescue workers, the president and his ministers then sang the national anthem and chanted "Chi Chi Chi, Le Le Le", while horns honked and people cheered in the tent camp below.
In the tent of the Avalos family, relatives of the first miner due to be pulled out, Florencio Avalos, prayed.
Other rescuers will join Mr Gonzalez to help prepare the miners for their journey to safety after 69 days trapped half a mile below ground.
US president Barack Obama sent his best wishes, saying: "We pray that by God's grace the miners will be able to emerge safely and return to their families soon."
Mr Obama also said he was "proud of all of the Americans who have been working with our Chilean friends on the ground to do everything that we can to bring these miners home".
