"33 Chilean miners are alive, but still trapped; After 2 weeks, probe reaches shelter; rescue is months away" by Federico Quilodran, Associated Press | August 23, 2010
Two weeks? Why are we just reading about it now?
SANTIAGO, Chile — Chile’s president euphorically waved the note, written deep inside a collapsed mine, that his country waited 17 agonizing days to see: “All 33 of us are fine in the shelter,’’ one of the trapped miners wrote in red letters.
Authorities and relatives of the miners hugged, climbed a nearby hill, planted 33 flags, and sang the national anthem yesterday after a probe sent some 2,257 feet deep into the mine came back with the note.
“We are overjoyed at the news,’’ President Sebastian Pinera said. “Today all of Chile is crying with excitement and joy.’’
But the miners’ ordeal will not end soon. Rescuers say it could take four months — until around Christmas — to get them out.
At least they will be coming out alive.
The men already have been trapped underground longer than all but a few miners in recent history. Last year, three miners survived 25 days trapped in a flooded mine in southern China, and two miners in northeast China were rescued after 23 days in 1983. Few other rescues have taken more than two weeks.
For the moment, however, news that the men survived the Aug. 5 tunnel collapse outshines all other details....
Word of the miners’ survival was a rush of good news in a country still rebuilding from a magnitude 8.8 earthquake in February and its resulting tsunami, which killed at least 521 people and left 200,000 homeless....
Well, it did get a paragraph.
Mine officials and relatives of the workers had hoped the men had been able to reach the shelter when the tunnel collapsed at the San Jose gold and copper mine about 530 miles north of the capital, Santiago. But they had said air and food supplies would last only 48 hours.
Rescuers drilled repeatedly in an effort to reach the shelter but failed seven times; they blamed the errors on the mining company’s maps....
This spring 115 Chinese miners were rescued after being trapped for more than a week because workers digging tunnels had broken into a water-filled abandoned shaft. The accident killed 38 miners.
Related: Mining Miracle in China
Chile’s drama shares some parallels with the 2002 Quecreek Mine accident, in which nine Pennsylvania miners were trapped in a flooded tunnel about 15 miles from where one of the planes hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001, crashed some 10 months earlier....
I can't believe they worked that into this story.
So where was the wreckage, MSM?
Relatives of the trapped men have been camped outside the mine since the accident occurred.
That's over two weeks?
On Saturday, some of the family members criticized officials for continuing to use probes to locate the miners rather than digging tunnels.
Chile is the world’s top copper producer and a leading gold producer. Rising copper prices have been a boon for the country, but increased mining has put a strain on mines with older infrastructure.Are their regulators on the take like they are here?
--more--"
Seeing as it is going to be a while maybe you would like something to read?
"Engineers buttress lifeline to trapped Chile miners" by Mauricio Cuevas, Associated Press | August 24, 2010
COPIAPO, Chile — Engineers reinforced a lifeline yesterday to 33 miners entombed deep inside a Chilean gold and copper mine, preparing to keep them supplied with food, water, medicine, and communications during the four months it may take to carve a tunnel wide enough to pull them out.
A team of doctors also arrived yesterday at the remote mine, implementing a plan to maintain the miners’ mental health as well....
That's the tough part.
Euphoria that their men survived the collapse and anxiety for what’s coming next meant for a sleepless night for the miners’ families, who shivered through a cold, foggy night in the Atacama desert....
The first inkling of the brutal winter the Southern Hemisphere is experiencing.
Of course, that would ruin the whole global warming gag.
The scene above ground became a celebration Sunday night, with a barbecue for the miners’ families, roving musicians, lit candles, and Chilean flags making the barren landscape seem festive....
Yeah, this whole thing is a party according to the paper!
More fun in the pits:
Taking a MSM Bath in a Turkish Mine
Slow Saturday Special: Colombia's Coal Mines
Tennessee Geiger Counter Clicking Over Coal Spill
Around AmeriKa: Son of Coal Miner's Slaughter
Worldwide, isn't it?
