CHILE – Rescue workers prepared yesterday to install a drill to dig an escape shaft for 33 miners – trapped for 19 days deep in a Chilean mine – who may not see the light of day until Christmas.
Engineers started sending hydration gel and medication through a narrow bore hole on Monday to keep the miners alive during the long rescue effort and and have set up an intercom.
To avoid hurting morale, the miners have not yet been told how much longer they may be underground.
Now engineers must build a concrete platform and erect the drill, which will bore a shaft 700m straight down, around 62cm in diameter, and plan to use a pulley to lower a cage to evacuate them one at a time. They hope to start drilling the escape shaft by the weekend.
The government has contacted Nasa for advice on how to keep the miners healthy with space mission-like rations and help them cope with the extended time in a confined space that lies ahead. It is already one of the longest periods trapped miners have survived underground.
Regional superintendent Ximena Matas said it would take a couple of days to assemble the drill. Rescue workers say it will take three to four months to dig the escape shaft.
Relatives of those trapped, who have been living in plastic tents at the mine head in a makeshift settlement dubbed Camp Hope, are elated but face a long wait.
Maria Segovia, a 48-year-old street vendor whose brother Dario is among those trapped, said she and her siblings would take turns staying at the mine during the rescue.
“It will be difficult to leave this behind, because though it’s hard to believe, it has become our home,” she said, overlooking a tiny tent where she has slept since the August 5th cave-in. “The wait is different now. We are much more relaxed and I know my brother won’t crack down there.
“Even though they haven’t told them how long the rescue will take, they are strong, they are miners, and they know it won’t be easy to get them out,” she added.
“This is going to teach the world about survival, about the will to live.” The miners’ relatives have sent letters down to the miners, tucked into emergency provisions, to help them cope with the psychological strain. Mining Minister Laurence Golborne made the first intercom contact with the miners on Monday.
“We are well. We’re waiting to be rescued,” Luis Urzua, mine shift leader, told Golborne from below as the trapped miners applauded, cheered and sang Chile’s national anthem. Rescuers and families were heartened by the remarkably good condition of the miners. – (Reuters)