Rescuers Send Supplies to Trapped Chilean Miners

(Aug. 24) -- Rescue workers trying to free 33 miners trapped at a mine in northern Chile say they have sent emergency supplies to the men, two-and-a-half weeks after the workers were first cut off by a cave-in.

Blue plastic capsules known as "palomas" -- Spanish for dove -- were sent down a 2,200-foot-deep borehole to the trapped men. The first of the tubes, which are about 5-feet long and take an hour to drop from the surface, contained flashlights, rehydration tablets and a high-energy glucose gel that will help the miners' digestive systems recover from their near starvation diet. Food will be sent down in a few days, once the men's stomachs have been strengthened, Paola Neuman of the medical rescue service told The Associated Press.

The miners, who have been trapped since Aug. 5, when the main access tunnel collapsed, have so far survived on a small stash of tuna, milk and biscuits stored in their 540-square-foot emergency shelter. "They had two little spoonfuls of tuna, a sip of milk and a biscuit every 48 hours," Dr. Sergio Aguila, a rescue team member, told the BBC.

Rescuers have also succeeded in punching a second borehole into the miners' living room-sized chamber, and a third drill is nearing the shelter, Mining Minister Laurence Golborne told reporters. The shaft that reached the miners Sunday -- triggering nationwide celebrations -- will continue to be used to lower supplies, the second will be for communication and the third for ventilation, Golborne said.

A microphone has already been sent down to the miners, and families are now taking turns to speak with loved ones. One of the trapped workers, shift leader Luis Urzua, 54, used the mic to tell Golborne, "We are well. We're waiting to be rescued," according to Reuters. The mining minister added that the workers could be heard cheering and singing the Chilean national anthem.

Although the miners appear to be in good spirits, emergency workers are now trying to figure out how to keep up morale throughout the lengthy rescue process. According to Andres Sougarret, the chief rescue engineer, drilling a shaft big enough to allow the miners to be pulled to the surface one-by-one could take until Christmas.

A team of psychiatrists has been assigned to monitor the miners' mental condition during the long wait. "We need to urgently establish what psychological situation they are in," Health Minister Jaime Manalich said, according to the BBC. "They need to understand what we know up here at the surface, that it will take many weeks for them to reach the light. There has to be leadership established, and to support them and prepare them for what's coming, which is no small thing."

Indeed, the scale of the challenge is made clear by the fact that the men have already been trapped underground longer than most mining disaster survivors in recent history. Last year, three miners were rescued after 25 days spent trapped in a flooded mine in southern China, and two workers in the northeast of the country were pulled out after 23 days in 1983.

Former miner Todd Russell, who was trapped underground for two weeks following a mine collapse in Tasmania in 2006, told The Guardian that the camaraderie that exists among miners would be crucial to their survival. "We were never confident that they were going to get us out alive. We had to rely on each other and keep positive," he said. "That's probably the best thing those miners in Chile can do to keep themselves alive. They should think of their families and loved ones and rely on their mates around them to get them through."