Chilean rescue teams hoped to start evacuating on Tuesday 33 miners buried alive after a cave-in over two months ago, the country's health minister said today.
Health Minister Jaime Manalich said he expected the drill to break through into a tunnel around half a mile underground this evening. Engineers must still decide how much of the inside of the shaft to line with metal tubing before hoisting the men to the surface in special capsules, meaning the evacuation timing could slip.
Mr Manalich repeated “Tuesday,” when asked if the men can be pulled out then.
Chile’s mining minister said it would be a “great day”. Laurence Golborne tweeted today the escape shaft should be finished soon.
Miners’ families are thrilled but anxious. Some say they want rescuers to take no chances, waiting a few days more if necessary to pull them all out safely.
Engineers must then decide how much of the inside of the shaft to line with metal tubing before hoisting the men to the surface in special capsules, Mr Manalich said. That means the evacuation timing could slip. But the minister said he hoped the evacuation could start on Tuesday.
Relatives of the trapped miners sang and prayed all night around a bonfire at the mine-head in Chile's Atacama desert, waving banners and lighting candles for each of the men.
"We are calm. We've already held on for two months. Now we are in the closing stage," said Samuel Avalos (70), whose son is among the trapped. "We hope it's over!"
In one of the world's most challenging rescue operations, engineers first bored tiny drill holes the width of a grapefruit to locate the men stuck in a tunnel 2,300 feet below ground - equivalent to 233 storeys.
They found them 17 days after the cave-in, miraculously all still alive, when the miners tied a message to the perforation drill, triggering celebrations across Chile. Rescuers used the bore holes as an umbilical cord to pass them high nutrition gels, water, medicine and later solid food to keep them alive.
Trapped for 64 days, the men have set a new world record for the length of time workers have survived trapped underground after a mining accident. They are in remarkably good health.
"Hopefully, God-willing, in a few days, we will be able to cry as a nation in happiness, just as we did when we found out they were alive, when we see them emerge from the depths of the mountain and hug their wives and children," President Sebastian Pinera said.
Images of the miners caught on a video camera lowered down the drill hole after they were found showed them bearded and bare-chested to cope with heat and humidity deep in the small, accident-plagued gold and copper mine in Chile's mining heartland.
The government brought in a team of Nasa experts to help keep the men mentally and physically fit during the protracted rescue bid. The miners have been doing exercises and helping to clear debris to keep their weight down so that they can fit in the evacuation shaft just two feet in diameter.
They will be hoisted to the surface in a specially designed capsule only slighter wider than a man's shoulders.
Agencies