Chileans hope to begin rescue of miners Wednesday
SAN JOSE MINE, Chile
Officials said late Saturday that workers first must reinforce
the top few hundred feet (almost 100 meters) of the tunnel and had
begun welding steel pipes for that purpose.
The completion of the 28-inch(71-centimeter)-diameter escape
shaft Saturday morning caused bedlam in the tent city known as
"Camp Hope," where the miners' relatives had held vigil for an
agonizing 66 days since a cave-in sealed off the gold and copper
mine Aug. 5.
Miners videotaped the piston-powered hammer drill's breakthrough
at 2,041 feet (622 meters) underground and could be seen cheering
and embracing, the drillers said.
On the surface, the rescuers chanted, danced and sprayed
champagne so excitedly that some of their hardhats tumbled off.
Later, a video inspection of the shaft gave rescuers enough
confidence in the tunnel's stability that they decided they will
encase only its first 315 feet (96 meters).
The plan is to insert 16 sections of half-inch(1.27
centimeter)-thick steel pipe into the top of the hole, which curves
like a waterfall at first before becoming nearly vertical for most
of its descent into a chamber deep in the mine. That work would
begin immediately, Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said.
Then an escape capsule built by Chilean naval engineers, its
spring-loaded wheels pressing against the hole's walls, can be
lowered into it via a winch and the trapped miners brought up one
by one.
While the possibility of an accident can never be ruled out, the
hole "is in very good condition, and doesn't need to be cased
completely," Golborne said.
Golborne and other government officials had insisted that
determining whether to encase the whole shaft, only part of it or
none of it would be a technical decision, based on the evidence and
the expertise of a team of eight geologists and mining engineers.
Encasing the full shaft would have added another week or so
before the rescue could begin -- if it could actually be done.
The political consequences were inescapable. Chile's success
story would evaporate if a miner should get stuck on the way up for
reasons that might have been avoided.
Some miners' families wanted the entire shaft lined with pipe,
but some engineers involved said the risk of the capsule getting
jammed in the unreinforced hole was less than the risk of the pipes
getting jammed and ruining their hard-won exit route.
Many experts doubted whether encasing the entire shaft was even
possible.
"Based on my experiences it cannot be done. Nor does it need to
be done," Brandon Fisher, president of the U.S. company that built
the drill that broke through, told The Associated Press on
Saturday.
"The rock is very confident down there," he added.
Health Minister Jaime Manalich said the miners' anxiety is
growing about starting their rescue, an operation that should take
about a day and a half to complete as they are pulled out one by
one in a specially built capsule.
Manalich also confirmed that a list has been drawn up suggesting
the order in which the 33 miners should be rescued. The final order
will be determined by a Navy special forces paramedic who will be
lowered into the mine to prepare the men for their journey.
The completion of the escape shaft thrilled Chileans, who have
come to see the rescue drama as a test of the nation's character
and pride.
"What began as a potential tragedy is becoming a verified
blessing," President Sebastian Pinera said in Santiago. "When we
Chileans set aside our legitimate differences and unify in a grand
and noble cause, we are capable of great things."
Miners who videotaped the drill breaking through the ceiling of
an underground chamber were ecstatic.
"On the video, they all started shouting and hugging and
celebrating," said James Stefanic, operations manager for the
U.S.-Chilean drilling company Geotec.
Their families also celebrated, blasting music and enjoying
barbecues at the mine late into the night.
"We feel an enormous happiness," said Darwin Contreras, whose
brother Pedro, a 26-year-old heavy machine operator, is stuck down
below. "Now we just have to wait for them to get out, just a
little bit longer now."
Golborne was being more cautious.
"We still haven't rescued anybody," he said. "This rescue
won't be over until the last person below leaves this mine."
Contractor Jeff Hart of Denver, Colorado, operated the drill
that created the exit route, pounding through solid rock and the
detritus of the collapsed mine, which corkscrews deep below a
remote hill in Chile's Atacama desert.
"There is nothing more important than saving -- possibly saving
-- 33 lives. There's no more important job than that," Hart said.
"We've done our part, now it's up to them to get the rest of the
way out."