Washington -
Edison Pena may be all shook up after spending some 10 weeks trapped deep in a Chile mine, but the self-proclaimed Elvis fan who was rescued on Wednesday can look forward to special succour: an invitation to Graceland.
Pena led his fellow miners in singalongs of Elvis Presley hits as he sought to buck up the group of 33 workers while they awaited rescue in the dark and dank San Jose mine.
Now that the operation to hoist them one by one to the surface was underway, and with Pena safely on the surface, Presley's Memphis, Tennessee home of Graceland has said it would host one of the new Chilean heroes.
The miner would get the full VIP treatment, including airfare for two, accommodation at a swank Memphis hotel, and tickets to the mansion.
“We're going to make him feel like a rockstar,” Kevin Kerin, director of public relations for Elvis Presley Enterprises, which manages Graceland, told AFP.
There are millions of Elvis fans worldwide, so why Pena?
“Edison was a fan in a unique situation,” Kerin said.
And when he heard of the plight of the miners, and that one of them was a longtime Elvis follower, Graceland sprang into action, arranging for a care package including a CD box set of remastered Elvis classics and a poster of “the King” to be sent down the mine's narrow supply chutes to Pena.
“Elvis was a very charitable and giving person, and that's part of our responsibility here, to promote that legacy.”
Pena, 34, emerged from the special rescue capsule on Wednesday in good spirits, pumping his fist in the air. But he had been deemed one of the weaker miners by Chilean health monitors after he wrote letters to relatives describing the difficulties of enduring the confinement.
In addition to the care package, Pena had received the encouragement of his family, who wrote to him: “Hold on, you'll soon be more famous than Elvis.” - Sapa-AFP