Trapped Chile miner's wife gives birth to daughter

[Judi Lynn]

Source: BBC News

14 September 2010 Last updated at 17:30 ET
Trapped Chile miner's wife gives birth to daughter

The wife of one of the 33 miners trapped underground in Chile has given birth to a baby girl.

Ariel Ticona, who has been trapped underground for 40 days, has asked his wife to name the girl Esperanza, Spanish for hope.

The couple already have two sons together.

Relatives recorded the delivery, and say they will send the video down through one of the shafts being used to ferry supplies to the trapped men.

Before the main access tunnel to the San Jose copper and gold mine collapsed on 5 August, Mr Ticona, 29, had promised to be in the delivery room for the birth.


Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11306900

[Judi Lynn]

1. Chile approves design of rescue pod for miners

Chile approves design of rescue pod for miners
Wednesday September 15 2010

http://www.independent.ie.nyud.net:8090/multimedia/archive/00683/rescue_pod_reuters_683921t.jpg

The steel rescue cage, constructed by a
technical team from Chile's navy, will
have an external diameter of 21in(54cm).

Chilean authorities have approved the design of a 21-inch wide rescue capsule that will eventually carry each of the 33 trapped miners 2,300 feet to the surface of the Atacama desert.

After enduring what is expected to be between three and four months trapped within the San Jose mine, the men will have to climb into a narrow bullet-shaped cylindrical pod for the ascent -- a journey that will take at least an hour.

A technical team from Chile's navy will start constructing the bullet-shaped chamber so it is ready when one of three drilling efforts finally bores through the solid rock to create a shaft wide enough to raise the men, who have been trapped since the mine collapsed on August 5.

The steel rescue cage will have an external diameter of 21in(54cm) and a reinforced roof to protect its passenger against any rocks or debris.

More:
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/americas/chile-approves-design-of-rescue-pod-for-miners-2337877.html

[Judi Lynn]

2. Chile's Trapped Miners Get 1,000 Job Offers

SANTIAGO, Chile, Sept. 15, 2010
Chile's Trapped Miners Get 1,000 Job Offers
One Less Worry: Companies Line Up to Offer 33 Trapped Men New Positions as 1 Becomes a Father, of "Hope"

(CBS/AP) Chile's 33 trapped miners have something good to think about: their next jobs. Bulldozer driver, mechanic, electrician. And here's a couple they might find particularly useful: "risk reduction specialist" and "escape-tunnel driller."

Two dozen companies with operations in Chile have made more than 1,000 job offers to the trapped miners and their 317 sidelined co-workers at a job fair this week. Even if they choose to go back to mining, the work won't necessarily be underground and it will almost certainly be with a company with a better safety record than their struggling current employer.

The 33 miners have been trapped for 40 days in harrowing, sweltering conditions since an Aug. 5 collapse. No miners in history have been trapped so long, and it still could be months before a hole large enough to get them out is completed. They are getting food, medicine, communication and other essentials through narrower holes dug by rescuers, but their anxiety has become evident, with more questions asked each time they hear the drilling stop.

~snip~
The San Jose miners have been offered 1,188 jobs as of Tuesday, many of them posted on a government labor ministry web site. Mining industry companies have interviewed some 200 of the miners who are not trapped at a hotel in the regional capital of Copiapo, and say they have no trouble waiting for the trapped miners to be rescued before they interview them as well.

"The 33 won't be without a job," vowed Sara Morales, a deputy human resources director for Terra Services, a Chilean drilling company. She told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she had received resumes from 80 miners and will offer 20 of them jobs.

More:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/15/world/main6867781.shtml

[Judi Lynn]

3. American team helping to free Chilean miners

American team helping to free Chilean miners
By Patrick Oppmann, CNN
September 15, 2010 9:25 a.m. EDT

http://i.cdn.turner.com.nyud.net:8090/cnn/2010/WORLD/americas/09/15/chile.miners.american.rescuers/story.chile.american.cnn.jpg

Brandon Fisher, owner of Center Rock Inc., is
leading a team of U.S. drilling experts to help
free the trapped miners in Chile.

At the San Jose Mine, Chile (CNN) -- Brandon Fisher has the deep orange hue of someone who has a sunburn on top of a sunburn. The creases under his eyes are evidence of how little sleep he has had lately.

Fisher and a small crew of American drillers are the tip of the spear for Plan B, one of the three drilling teams racing to rescue 33 trapped miners buried 2,300 feet below the ground.

It's a high pressure assignment expected to continue for months in Chile's remote and unforgiving Atacama Desert.

Fisher's crew has been working around the clock for more than a week. Despite the grueling schedule, he said he's up for the challenge.

"We have got humans in the ground. It doesn't matter if they are Americans or Chileans," Fisher said Monday in his first interview since arriving in Chile eight days earlier.

More:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/09/15/chile.miners.american.rescuers/index.html?hpt=T2

[LisaM]

4. This is good

Like that soccer match they beamed down to them, this is the kind of thing that can keep the human spirit going. And I love the name. The baby will have 32 honorary uncles!