COPIAPO – Rescue workers yesterday reinforced a small drill hole to serve as an “umbilical cord” to 33 miners found alive 17 days after a cave-in in the far north of Chile, and say it could take months to dig them out.
In what relatives have dubbed a miracle, the miners on Sunday tied a note to a perforation drill that had carved a shaft as wide as a grapefruit down to the refuge they are sheltered in 700m (2,300ft) vertically underground.
The collapse in the small gold and copper mine has shone a spotlight on mine safety in Chile, the world’s biggest copper producer, though such incidents are rare at major mines, and this one is not seen as likely to have a significant impact on the country’s output.
Rescue workers now plan to use the tiny bore hole to send plastic tubes containing glucose, hydration gels and food down to the miners to keep them alive while they dig a new shaft to extract them – which could take up to four months.
“What we have to do is to secure this umbilical cord to stay connected with the miners, to keep them alive,” said Andre Sougarret, the manager of state copper giant Codelco’s El Teniente mine, who is heading the drilling effort.
Mr Sougarret said engineers would coat the sides of the bore-hole and hoped to be able to start sending food and supplies through it immediately.
He said the next stage was to choose where to drill a larger hole to extract the miners without risking further cave-ins at the unstable mine. “Our initial estimate is that it will take three to four months [to drill],” he said.
The miners are 7km (4.5 miles) inside the winding mine and are sheltering in a refuge the size of a small apartment.
Tanks of water and ventilation shafts helped the miners to survive, but they had very limited food supplies, and health officials estimate they may have lost about 8-9kg each.
Rescuers lowered a television camera down the bore-hole on Sunday, and some of the miners looked into the lens. Some had removed their shirts because of the heat in the mine, and officials said they looked in better than expected condition.
“It will take time, but it doesn’t matter how long it takes to have a happy ending,” Chile’s president, Sebastian Pinera, said after flying to the mine on Sunday. Mr Pinera has sacked top officials of Chile’s mining regulator and is promising a major overhaul of the agency in light of the incident.
As night fell on Sunday, jubilant relatives of the trapped miners gathered with rescue workers around bonfires for a barbecue, celebrating with traditional live music and dance as a cold fog enveloped the mine head.
Thousands of Chileans honked their horns across the country and burst into applause at restaurants when they heard the news.
“This was a 17-day nightmare,” said 42-year-old miner Sandro Rojas, whose brother, two cousins and nephew are among those trapped. “When I see my brother, I’m going to tell him I love him and smother him with kisses. To be honest, I don’t know if I’ll be able to speak I’m so excited.”
The government says the San José mine, owned by local private company Compania Minera San Esteban Primera, has suffered a series of incidents in which 16 workers have been killed in recent years.
The miners’ plight has drawn parallels with the story of 16 people who survived more than 72 days in the Andes mountains after a 1972 air crash. Their story was later made into the Hollywood movie Alive. – (Reuters)