Second drill joins effort to aid trapped Chile miners

[Judi Lynn]

Second drill joins effort to aid trapped Chile miners
– 1 hr 20 mins ago

COPIAPO, Chile (AFP) – A second drill that will widen a supply chute to 33 miners trapped in a Chilean mine, and could aid their rescue, arrived Friday at the site where the men have been trapped for nearly a month.

The T-130 excavator arrived at the San Jose mine after engineers resumed drilling a rescue borehole after a brief halt to allow the walls of the shaft to be cemented.

The second drill arrived in pieces, transported on five trucks to the site of the copper and gold mine in Chile's Atacama desert, some 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of Santiago.

"I feel so much emotion and I'm impatient to begin work as soon as possible," Juan Castillo Olea, who drove one of the trucks carrying the machine parts, told AFP.

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100903/wl_afp/chileminingaccident

[Judi Lynn]

1. Trapped Chile miner's wife gives birth to daughter

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]

2. 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

[Judi Lynn]

3. Trapped Chilean miners could be freed by November

Trapped Chilean miners could be freed by November

London, Sept.17 : The 33 Chilean miners trapped nearly half a mile underground could be freed within two months, rescue workers have said.

The trapped men were previously warned they were unlikely to see daylight before Christmas, but chief engineer Rene Aguilar has outlined a more optimistic timescale, saying a rescue hole should reach them by the beginning of November.

Aguilar said the fastest of three drills being used in the mission had reached a depth of 1,200 feet after digging through 330 feet in just 24 hours.

Engineers are now hopeful that they will reach the trapped Chilean miners by early November

More:
http://www.newkerala.com/news2/fullnews-43444.html