“We have carried out the relevant tests of the
signal, which were described as optimal,” the National Emergency Office
(Onemi) of the
Rescue workers liaised with personnel from the
mobile telephone company Movistar to broadcast the match to the miners,
who have been trapped since the mine shaft collapsed on
One of the 33 miners is suffering from severe tooth ache, Onemi noted, and his antibiotics treatment had to be changed.
Experts cited by Chilean media described the man’s
situation as worrying, since no more comprehensive remedies will be on
hand for him until he is pulled up to the surface, and that could take
another three or four months.
Another miner was also getting treatment for hypertension.
Rescue teams are using an
drill to dig a 2,300-foot vertical tunnel to the place where the miners
are. By Tuesday, they had reached about 325 feet (100 meters)
underground. Onemi described this as Plan A.
The drilling of a second shaft, Plan B, has also
begun at the San Jose copper mine and reached a depth of nearly 100
feet (30 meters). A
A bigger and stronger drill, which is normally used
for oil and gas extraction, was due to arrive at the mine over the next
few days. It would, however, take some time to prepare it for the
operation, Chilean authorities said.
Once one of the passages has been widened to about
271/2 inches (70 centimeters), the miners will be lifted to the surface
one by one in a well-lit module containing oxygen, water, food and an
intercom system. The module will need between half an hour and an hour
to reach the surface.
The earliest this is expected to happen is early
December, Golborne said. According to media reports, the rescue might
in fact come earlier than expected, perhaps even in October.
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(c) 2010, Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany).
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