B
best little spaniard
Guest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/23/chile-trapped-miners-rescue
Unbelievable. Having to spend 4 months underground. Here's hoping they come out unharmed.
The 33 miners trapped deep underground in a mine in Chile will need to spend the next four months participating in their own rescue before being pulled out by rope, it emerged today.
Rescue workers were tonight set to begin lowering capsules of glucose, hydration gels, liquid nutrients, communication equipment and medicine down a 2,257ft bore hole to the bottom of the San José mine, where the men have been trapped inside a mine shaft for the last 18 days. The rescue work continued as questions began to emerge about the safety record of the mine, with relatives asking why it was allowed to operate.
The men's miraculous tale of survival was communicated to the world yesterday when they attached a note to a probe sent into the shaft. It read: "All 33 of us are well inside the shelter."
The news, confirmed by the Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera, prompted celebrations across the country and jubilant scenes on the surface of the mine, where the men's relatives had established a week-long vigil as they awaited signs of life.
Officials have described the bore hole – which is just 8cm wide – as an "umbilical cord" for the miners. It will attempt to keep them healthy while officials begin drilling a far bigger hole as an escape route for the men, who are trapped in a shelter around 52 sq metres – the size of a small apartment. Rescuers also plan another shaft to ensure ventilation for the miners, who are thought to be enduring temperatures as high as 32C.
Widening the existing hole is also an option, although officials said excavating the rescue tunnel – which will be around 65cm wide – would take between three and four months.
A phalanx of Chilean police escorted new drilling machinery, which was expected to arrive at the mine today.
Pedro Ramírez, a rescuer, told Chile's TVN channel that the digging would result in debris falling into the mine shaft. The miners would then be pulled out, "person by person, using rope", he said.
"They will need to help with their own rescue, because they will need to clear out debris that falls through from that excavation," he said. "They will need to clear out the material and facilitate the work being done on the surface."
Experts predicted the men would probably survive the ordeal, although their survival will depend entirely on the thin bore hole, a life-line engineers were yesterday in the process of fortifying.
It has formed the only means of communication into and out of the mine, just outside the northern Chilean city of Copiapó.
Hours after establishing communication, rescuers lowered a television camera into the hole. "There it is – there is a face," one rescue worker shouted, as the features of an unknown miner appeared, ghost-like, across the screen.
Some of the miners were said to have removed their shirts because of the heat, and officials said they looked in better shape than might have been expected.
A second letter sent to the surface was written by the oldest miner, Mario Gómez, 63. "Even if we have to wait months to communicate … I want to tell everyone that I'm good and we'll surely come out OK," wrote Gomez, who has been mining since he was 12 years old. "Patience and faith. God is great and … the help of my God is going to make it possible to leave this mine alive."
Scribbled communications revealed that the miners, some of whom have been trained for rescue and survival operations, stayed alive with the ingenious use of four mining machines. They have drained an estimated 5,000 litres of water from the radiators of the diggers and created a canal of fresh water. Batteries from the vehicles have been used to charge their helmet lamps, some of which were shining in the television images. "We could see their eyes, their happiness, their hope," Piñera said .
The charismatic president has placed himself at the centre of the rescue effort, and conveyed much of the euphoria as the drama unfolded over the last 48 hours. "They're going to be thinner and dirtier," he said. "But now they are going to emerge with a greater will to live than ever."
But attempts to establish audio communication with the men have so far failed, and there are concerns for the miners' psychological well-being in the weeks ahead.
Desperate family members begged the government to let them communicate with the trapped miners.
However, Chilean health officials are scrambling to first determine the health status of each miner. Via a questionnaire sent via the access tube, each miner will be asked to describe his health and answer questions designed to permit a personalised diet. With the miners expected to spend several months underground, the long-term health issues are now taking centre stage.
Once the medical questionnaires have been completed, officials will decide which miners are mentally and physically qualified to serve as liaison with the above-ground rescue operations.
Sergio Donoso, the uncle of Raúl Bustos, one of the those trapped, said the bore hole would also be used to ensure the men stayed mentally strong. "Psychologists and psychiatrists are going to be talking to the kids, especially the young ones who are going to need more help," he told El Mercurio. The youngest miner, Jimmy Sanchez, is 19.
Laurence Golborne, Chile's minister for mining, told the newspaper rescuers had not ruled out lowering anti-depressants into the shaft.
Counselling is also being offered to relatives of the miners, who have endured an agonised wait near the mouth of the mine, where they built shrines and composed songs around a collection of tents they have called Camp Hope. Relatives were initially told the miners were unlikely to survive more than 48 hours trapped in the mine.
Their hopes were dashed six days ago when it appeared the drill would be unable to locate the men because the mining company's maps were obsolete.
"This was a 17-day nightmare," said 42-year-old miner Sandro Rojas, whose brother, two cousins and nephew are among those trapped. "When I see my brother, I'm going to tell him I love him and smother him with kisses. To be honest, I don't know if I'll be able to speak I'm so excited."
"They can endure four months or more down there," Sandro Rojas, brother of trapped miner Estevan Rojas, told El Mercurio. "They understand that the final rescue is going to be hard because they have experience with mines. It won't affect them when they're told they need to wait."
But anger is already turning toward the owners of the mine, which has a poor safety record. The government says the San José gold and copper mine, owned by local private company, Compania Minera San Esteban Primera, has suffered a series of mishaps and 16 workers were killed in recent years. Piñera has sacked top officials of Chile's mining regulator and vows a major overhaul of the agency in light of the accident.
Lawyers for the owners today suggested that the company will declare bankruptcy, setting off a new round of accusations against the now-discredited operation.
Lilian Ramírez, wife of Gómez, told Radio Cooperativa the families still held the company responsible for the accident. "In this moment I would tell them: God forgive you."
Opposition politicians have ask why the mine had not been shut down earlier, citing the results of a government inspection in July this year, which included warnings that the mine owners had failed "to reinforce the roof having realised that there was no reinforcement which led to [an earlier] collapse of the roof."
"Given the powers of the work ministry, that document alone should have led to the suspension of all work in the San José mine," said Chilean politician Fidel Espinoza.
Unbelievable. Having to spend 4 months underground. Here's hoping they come out unharmed.
