33 trapped Chilean miners are alive after 17 days

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

33 trapped Chilean miners are alive after 17 days
Rescue workers say it could take 120 days to dig a new tunnel to reach the miners
updated 2 hours 3 minutes ago

Share Print Font: +-SANTIAGO — Thirty-three miners trapped underground for more than two weeks after a cave-in said they are all alive in a message tied to a drill, Chilean authorities said on Sunday.

President Sebastian Pinera said the piece of paper was tied to a drill that rescuers used to bore through to the area where the miners are located. But he said it will take months to get the trapped miners out.

"The 33 of us in the shelter are well," read the message held up by Pinera on television.

"It will take months (to get them out). It will take time, but it doesn't matter how long it takes, but to have a happy ending," the president said.

Relatives hugged and kissed as news of the message reverberated outside the entrance to the mine, where they have been camped out since the mine caved in on August 5.

Rescuers plan to send narrow plastic tubes down the narrow borehole with food, hydration gels and communications equipment. Deep in the mine, there are deposits of water and ventilation shafts that could help the miners survive.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38807555/ns/world_news-americas/

[SPedigrees]

1. Here's hoping that all the miners see daylight again unharmed.

The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel...

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. Wow - thats amazing! But "months to get them out" ?

I can't even imagine.

[rabs]

3. Message from the miners

Message says: "We are well in the refuge the 33 (of us).


Relatives on hearing the news.

It will still be a long process to get them out. They are trapped about 600 meters below the surface.

[Judi Lynn]

16. Love those images. It would mean everything to their loved ones to know they have survived.

Found an illustration on the spiral mineshaft posted by the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2010/aug/23/chile-san-jose-mine-trapped-miners
Third image.

[jimlup]

4. Wow! Hard to comprehend spending that much time waiting to be rescued!

[Festivito]

5. Dang socialist country. If it had been here, we'd have had them out already.

Well, not really. They'd be dead. We'd have coverage. The owners would hire PR people.

And by the time Chile will free the guys a month from now, we'd have all forgotten about the deaths.

So! Who's better off in a month? A bunch of guys needing a bunch of health care at taxpayer expense or a bunch of people going on with their lives as though nothing ever happened?

I ask you.

[Psephos]

20. An alternate take.

120 days to tunnel a 66cm bore down 600 meters?

Sounds like antiquated (but less costly) technique and equipment is being used. Furthermore, a competent effort would have started tunneling 17 days ago. Instead, officials decided to use less expensive probes before committing to the tunneling expense.

My guess is that a private firm with modern expertise is going to offer to do it a lot faster. We'll see.

[defendandprotect]

6. k

[medeak]

7. what is name of mining company?

know of a few large mining companies there that are also operating mines in US

[rabs]

12. It is a small Chilean mining company

The mine is known as the "mina San José." It belongs to a small company named CIA Minera San Esteban S.A., which specializes in gold and copper mining.

The company currently is under investigation for numerous safety lapses discovered since the cave in.

[Omaha Steve]

8. K&R!

[RamboLiberal]

9. I know these miners are a lot deeper

but I'm curious why a bore hole like they did at Quecreek couldn't be drilled to send down a rescue cage? They've already drilled a smaller bore hole to contact these men & now send them food & other survival supplies.

120 days to reach them? I can't even imagine trying to survive that long underground!

Praying no matter how long it takes they get these guys out alive.

[onehandle]

10. Amazing. They might be down there another 4 months?

I just cannot imagine the Hell they are going through.

[rabs]

11. Camera lowered, shows miners

He is identified as Jimmy Sanchez, youngest of the 33 trapped miners.

The camera was damaged by water on the way down, so there was no audio. The seconds-long visual showed about nine miners in a blurry image.

Water and food will be sent down the shaft beginning in hours. Government is estimating it may take 3 or 4 MONTHS to extract the miners.

Chilean government copper company CODELCO sending equipment tomorrow to begin drilling a 66-centimeter, parallel shaft 700 meters to where the miners are.

Sixty-six centimeters equals 25.98 inches. Suspect miners will have lost a lot of weight so should fit in a small cage that is to be lowered to extract the miners one by one. At least that is the plan.

(X-posting from Latin America Forum)

More in Spanish from La Nacion newspaper of Santiago de Chile.

http://www.lanacion.cl/video-muestra-rostro-de-minero-y-comienza-tarea-de-rescate/noticias/2010-08-22/201000.html

[dipsydoodle]

13. BBC link with video

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11054376

k & r.

[dipsydoodle]

14. Chile's trapped miners could be stuck until Christmas

But amid the joy of the news of their survival, Andres Sougarret, the engineer in charge of the mission, said it could take months to free the men from their underground prison.

It would take "at least 120 days" to carve a second shaft that was wide enough for the miners to be pulled up one-by-one.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/chile/7959683/Chiles-trapped-miners-could-be-stuck-until-Christmas.html

[Judi Lynn]

15. Chilean miners found alive – but rescue will take four months

Chilean miners found alive – but rescue will take four months
Miners' challenge will be to maintain sanity during four months it will take to build underground escape tunnel
Haroon Siddique and agencies guardian.co.uk,
Monday 23 August 2010 09.38 BST

Miners in Chile face four months trapped underground while an escape tunnel is built.

Joy greeted the news that a group of Chilean miners trapped for 17 days deep inside a collapsed mine are all alive but the challenge now facing the 33 men is to maintain their sanity during the four months it will take to free them.

A rescue probe that drilled down 2,257ft to the bottom of the San José mine made contact with the miners yesterday, who sent back a message reading: "All 33 of us are well inside the shelter."

A note from the eldest of the trapped miners to his wife Lilian Ramírez indicated that the men were aware of the challenge facing them but confident that they would prove equal to it.

"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," Mario Gómez, 63, wrote, scrawling the words on a sheet of notebook paper that the miners tied to the probe. "Patience and faith. God is great and the help of my God is going to make it possible to leave this mine alive."

Video footage of one of the miners, taken with a small camera sent underground after receipt of the handwritten message, was obtained by CNN Chile. There has been no audio contact yet but the unnamed man appeared to be in good spirits.

Chilean authorities intend to send microphones down to communicate with the miners directly. Food, water, medicine and other supplies will also be sent down into the mine.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/23/miners-trapped-alive-chile

[Owl]

17. Four months... how horrible. The mental despair alone will be overwhelmingly horrible.

[Judi Lynn]

19. Can't begin to imagine. At least now they know people on the surface are hard at work for them.

Before, no doubt they were torn between trying to prepare themselves psycholically for the least wear and tear on their spirits as hope faded, and yet trying to hope somehow help would come.

Absolutely horrifying. Just thinking about it over a few seconds can bring tears flooding your eyes. Pure nightmare.

[Judi Lynn]

18. Supplies sent down to trapped miners

Supplies sent down to trapped miners
August 23, 2010
By Alonso Soto, Reuters

COPIAPO, Chile - Chilean miners still alive 17 days after a cave-in were sent supplies of saline and glucose through a narrow drill hole Monday, and rescuers now face a months-long, half-mile dig to rescue them.

In what relatives called a miracle, the miners Sunday tied a note to a perforation drill that had bored a shaft the circumference of a grapefruit to the refuge where they are sheltered, 2,300 feet vertically underground.

The accident in the small gold and copper mine has shone a spotlight on mine safety in Chile, the world’s No. 1 copper producer, although accidents are rare at major mines. The incident is not seen having a significant impact on Chile’s output.

Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said rescue workers began sending plastic tubes called “doves” containing glucose, hydration gels and liquid nutrients and medicine down to the miners to keep them alive while they dig a new shaft to extract them — which could take up to four months.

More:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2010/08/23/15113766.html?cid=rssnewslast24hours

[Judi Lynn]

21. Trapped Chilean miners to participate in own rescue

Trapped Chilean miners to participate in own rescue
Bore-hole just 8cm wide will act as 'umbilical cord' and provide route of escape for the 33 men
Jonathan Franklin in Santiago and Paul Lewis
guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 August 2010 20.37 BST

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.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/23/chile-trapped-miners-rescue

[Judi Lynn]

22. Chile's miracle miners to get love letters, scolds

Chile's miracle miners to get love letters, scolds
1 hour 44 mins ago

Clasping a tattered note scrawled by her husband trapped underground after a mine cave-in 18 days ago, Lilianett Ramirez is composing her first love letter in decades. Skip related content

A note her 63-year-old husband Mario Gomez sent up to the surface on Sunday, promising he would see her soon, moved a whole nation still recovering from a massive February earthquake as rescuers learned that 33 miners buried alive since August 5 had survived.

Now Ramirez, 51, faces an agonizing wait of three to four months as engineers drill a new shaft to evacuate the men, who survived in a refuge deep underground drinking water from drilling machines and thanks to ventilation shafts.

Engineers began sending plastic tubes called "doves" containing glucose, hydration gels and liquid nutrients and medicine down to the miners on Monday to keep them alive. They plan to include letters as well.

"Can you imagine? After 30 years of marriage we will start sending each other love letters again," Ramirez said, giggling despite exhaustion after camping out in a plastic tent at the mine head's "Camp Hope" for nearly three weeks waiting for news of the miners' fate.

"I want to tell him that I love him so much. I want to tell him that things will be different, that we will have a new life," she said. "I will wait as long as I need to see my husband again."

Rescue workers found the note from her husband tied around a perforation drill used to try and locate the miners some 2,300 feet (700 metres) below ground.

"I will see you soon and we will be happy ever after," he had scribbled.

More:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100823/twl-uk-chile-mine-survival-bd5ae06.html

[RamboLiberal]

23. And 2 of them have to lose weight while they are down there

And new challenges appear to be emerging by the hour. Two of the 33 men are reportedly obese, and it appears that they will not fit through the 27-inch-wide hole rescuers intend to drill. ABC News has been told that these two miners will have to lose enough weight during their captivity to fit into the hole once it is dug.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/trapped-chilean-miners-face-month-rescue-effort/story?id=11460838

I hope the Chilean government is contacting mine experts all over the globe to try to make this quicker.

[cal04]

24. Supplies reach Chilean miners; now, the long wait

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/lt_chile_mine_collapse

Trapped nearly half a mile inside the earth and facing perhaps four months before rescue, 33 Chilean miners began accepting food, water and oxygen from above ground Monday as rescue teams worked to gauge their state of mind and brace them for the long wait ahead.

Through a newly installed communications system, each of the men spoke and reported feeling hungry but well, except for one with a stomach problem, a Chilean official said. They requested toothbrushes.

It was a positive sign, and Chile's president said the nation was "crying with excitement and joy" after engineers broke through Sunday to the men's refuge. It had been 17 days since a landslide at the gold and copper mine caused a tunnel to collapse and entombed them more than 2,200 feet below ground.

Still, doctors and psychological experts were trying to safeguard the very sanity of the miners in the months to come, and said they were implementing a plan that included keeping them informed and busy. The miners reported that a shift foreman named Luis Urzua had assumed leadership of the trapped men.

[laylah]

25. As the daughter/granddaughter of

coal miners, all I can say is :woohoo: I so very glad for them and their families.

Jenn

[midnight]

26. I hope for a miracle, and these minors are freed.

[dipsydoodle]

27. Trapped Chile miners receive food and water

Rescue workers in Chile say they have sent the first supplies of water and food to 33 miners who have been trapped underground for 17 days.

Capsules containing the supplies were sent down a tube, which is the miners' only lifeline.

>

The miners have not been told it may take up to four months to get them out, the head of the rescue operation said.

Andres Sougarret said it could take that long to drill a new shaft wide enough to pull the men to safety.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11064687

[Jumping John]

28. So do they get paid 24 hours each day? n/t

[Judi Lynn]

29. Trapped Chilean Miners' First Request: Toothbrushes

Trapped Chilean Miners' First Request: Toothbrushes
Minister of Mines: Rescue Effort Could Be Longest in Chilean Mining History
By JEFFREY KOFMAN, LEE FERRAN and JESSICA HOPPER
Aug. 24, 2010

In perhaps an incidental sign of the long stay to come, the 33 miners trapped 2,258 feet below ground in Chile reportedly made an unusual first request when they were contacted by rescuers: Send toothbrushes.

They made the request, reported today by the Associated Press, as rescuers drilled a second six-inch-wide hole to the trapped miners to communicate with them via scribbled notes.

Standing near the entrance of the collapsed mine, Chile's minister of mines, Laurence Golborne, told "Good Morning America," in comments airing today, that there has never been a rescue effort in Chile as long as this one could be. Government officials have said the miners may not surface until around Christmas.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/trapped-chilean-miners-request-toothbrushes/story?id=11466546
Small video attached to short article.

[Judi Lynn]

30. Rescue delay hidden from trapped Chilean miners

Rescue delay hidden from trapped Chilean miners
By Moises Avila Roldan, AFP August 24, 2010 10:41 AM

COPIAPO, Chile - Work began Tuesday on a tunnel to free 33 Chilean miners, but as families passed poignant messages down a narrow hole, the trapped men were not being told it could take four months to rescue them.

The engineer in charge of the rescue mission at the San Jose gold and copper mine, Andres Sougarret, said he was keeping secret from the miners his estimate they may have to tough it out deep underground until Christmas.

The prolonged operation has raised fears for the mental health of the miners, who are trapped in a hot shelter 700 meters (2,300) deep inside the mine in northern Chile that collapsed August 5.

~snip~
Friends and relatives kept up an emotional vigil outside the mine. For two weeks, they had prayed and left messages at the entrance.

Now, they were sending personal messages to loved ones beneath their feet to lift up their spirits — while avoiding talk of the grueling long weeks and months that lay ahead before any reunion.

"Hi daddy, it's Romina, I'm so happy you're well. This is one of the greatest joys of my life," Romina, 20, wrote to her 63-year-old father Mario Gomez.

"We'd love to send you a shovel, but it won't fit in the drill hole," said another, from Carolina to her husband Franklin Lobos.

The mine's owners said the disaster had put the company at risk of bankruptcy, and told a radio station they might not be able to pay the miners once they are rescued.

But Leonardo Farkas, an eccentric mining magnate, on Monday sent a check for 10,000 dollars to each of the 33 miners' families.
"When they're rescued, I'm going to throw a party," he said.

http://www.canada.com/news/national/Rescue+delay+hidden+from+trapped+Chilean+miners/3431312/story.html

[Judi Lynn]

31. Chile seeks advice from NASA on feeding

Chile seeks advice from NASA on feeding
August 25, 2010 - 3:44AM

Officials in Chile say they have asked the US space agency NASA for assistance in keeping 33 trapped miners supplied with food.

Health minister Jaime Manalich on Tuesday told reporters that the government contacted NASA "to learn from their experience in space" and to see if there are similar techniques they can use to provide nourishment to the mine workers.

"The situation is very similar the one experienced by the astronauts, who spend months on end in the space station," he said.

The copper and gold mine in San Jose de Copiapo, in Chile's Atacama Desert, collapsed on August 5, trapping the workers inside.

Food supplies were being sent through a narrow hole of about eight centimetres which engineers are working to widen. But they were not expected to create a passage wide enough to extract the men until Christmas.

The half-starved workers subsisted for more than two weeks on rations of two spoonfuls of tuna and a half-glass of milk every other day before official were able to start sending them water and liquid food rations.

Manalich said officials were looking for ways to provide condensed, high-protein, calorie-rich nutrition to the men, who may have to spend as long as four months trapped underground in the mine until officials.

More:
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/chile-seeks-advice-from-nasa-on-feeding-20100825-13qm6.html