Chilean Miners Alive but May Be Trapped for Months

(Aug. 23) -- Thirty-three miners trapped deep underground for 17 days following a collapse at a gold and copper mine in northern Chile have been discovered alive and well. But despite their incredible survival story, the workers now face an even tougher challenge: staying sane and healthy during the four months it will take rescuers to dig them out.

The miners managed to alert rescuers to their location Sunday by tying messages to a rescue probe that drilled 2,257 feet to the bottom of the San Jose mine. "All 33 of us are well inside the shelter," said a note scribbled in red ink, which was read out by Chilean President Sebastian Pinera. A small camera was later lowered into the borehole, which showed the top half of a miner's face. The man was conscious and apparently in good spirits.

Rescuers now plan to send plastic tubes filled with food and hydration gels down the drill hole. Cameras and microphones will also be ferried into the shaft, allowing the trapped men to communicate with relatives -- which authorities hope will ease some of the stress they will experience while trapped underground.

News of the workers' miraculous survival triggered celebrations across Chile. Local news broadcast images of people dancing and honking car horns in the streets of the capital, Santiago -- about 500 miles south of the disaster site -- and miners' families cheering and whooping outside the mine. "Today all of Chile is crying with excitement and joy," Pinera said, according to The Associated Press.

However, those festivities have been tempered by the news that the trapped workers will likely not see the light of day until Christmas. Drilling a hole large enough to allow the miners to be hauled out one by one will prove a challenging feat and require equipment not currently at the site. "A shaft 66 centimeters (26 inches) in diameter will take at least 120 days," said Andres Sougarret, the engineer in charge of the operation, according to the BBC.


Pinera has offered his personal guarantee that the miners would all emerge alive. "It will take months to get them out," he said outside the mine, the BBC reported. "They'll come out thin and dirty, but whole and strong."

The miners appear aware that their rescue may take a long time. Mario Gomez, 63, possibly the oldest of the trapped men, wrote a note to his wife saying that the group was ready for the struggle ahead. "Even if we have to wait months to communicate ... I want to tell everyone that I'm good and we'll surely come out OK," Gomez wrote, according to the AP. "Patience and faith. God is great, and the help of my God is going to make it possible to leave this mine alive."

He added that the miners were using a truck engine to power lighting and had dug a channel to funnel underground water.

Gomez's wife Lila was overjoyed to hear that her husband was safe. "I know my husband is fine. I know he's alive. And I know he's keeping up all the others in the mine because that's the kind of person my husband is," she told CNN Chile. "The good thing is that now he's going to come out of there with his life. Thank God."

Although mining accidents are relatively rare in Chile -- the world's No. 1 copper producer -- Reuters reported that 16 workers have been killed at the privately owned San Jose mine in recent years. And in his letter, Gomez also hinted at safety problems at the mine, saying: "This company has got to modernize."