The Trapped Chilean Miners

[wexy]

Posted: 8/23/10 at 10:33am

Can you imagine being trapped under ground for four months?
I don't like being stuck for five between stations on the subway.
How do these men stay sane?


http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/08/23/world/international-us-chile-mine-accident.html?_r=1&ref=world

Updated On: 8/25/10 at 10:33 AM

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/23/10 at 11:12am

We literally gasped last night when they said those miners might not get out of there until Christmas. But thank goodness they are alive and they can get food to them.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 12:36am

I wondered about their sanity as well. And what kind of long term mental stress they will suffer.

Miraculous that after 17 days they are ALL alive and accounted for.

The wording I heard was they HOPE to have them out by Christmas. I cannot imagine the agony of the men and their families.

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 1:13am

I get claustrophobic in a crowded elevator or cluttered room, so I cannot fathom this. Literally. I keep trying to empathize and I freak out a little. My prayers are with them, they are obviously stronger than I am.

I had a similar reaction to the 9-day traffic jam story in China. The people interviewed were annoyed. I would have gone into a complete mental breakdown before the first day was over.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 1:29am

So scary.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 9:55pm

I truly cannot imagine...

Sending my prayers to them. The agony of what they must endure... God Bless them!

And, I read about the 9 day traffic jam in China as well. Such endurance and such insanity!

[wexy]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 9:58am

My sister got stuck at the Atlanta airport for two hours and texted me how upset she was.
I answered 'Think of the Chilean Miners'.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 9/8/10 at 5:19pm

So, every day when I start to feel like complaining about something (usually) stupid, I think about these guys.

And the Grace and Strength they are showing the world.

I continue to keep them in my prayers!

Bless them with continued patience and health and love.

[uncageg]

Posted: 9/8/10 at 5:34pm

I saw this morning that they were treated to watching a, I think, soccer match. I guess they somehow lowered video to them.

[Q]

Posted: 9/8/10 at 7:06pm

People stay down in submarines for longer than four months, so in-and-of-itself, that's not completely unendurable. Obviously, the accidental and involuntary nature of this situation adds a different dimension, but it might not be as horrifying as it might seem. Perhaps the reality of them just being alive will be enough to help them through.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 10/11/10 at 3:42pm

I remain captivated by this story... and hopefully await good news when they are able to start to bring the trapped miners our of their confinement!

This is a fascinating news story...


SAN JOSE MINE, Chile – Rescuers on Monday finished reinforcing the hole drilled to bring 33 trapped miners to safety and sent a rescue capsule nearly all the way to where the men are trapped, proving the escape route works.

That means that if all goes well, everything will be in place at midnight Tuesday to begin pulling the men out of their subterranean purgatory.

Andre Sougarett, the rescue leader, said the empty capsule descended 2,000 feet (610 meters), just 40 feet (12 meters) short of the shaft system where the miners have been trapped since an Aug. 5 collapse.

"We didn't send it (all the way) down because we could risk that someone will jump in," Mining Minister Laurence Golborne told reporters, grinning.
He called the 6 a.m. test "very promising, very positive" and said the capsule, the biggest of three built by Chilean Navy engineers, "performed very well in the duct."
"It didn't even raise any dust," he said.

The steel capsule, named Phoenix I, was lowered by winch into the hole after its top 180 feet (55 meters) were encased in tubing, said Sougarett.
His deputy, Rene Aguilar, told The Associated Press it was lowered at least four times.

Engineers had originally planned to extend the 28-inch (71-centimeter) section of pipe nearly twice as far, but decided to stop for fear that a longer tube forced into the slightly angled hole risked damaging its smooth walls.

A torrent of emotions awaits the miners when they finally rejoin the outside world.
As trying as it has been for them to survive underground for more than two months, their gold and copper mine is familiar territory. Once out of the shaft, they'll face challenges so bewildering, no amount of coaching can fully prepare them.

They'll be celebrated at first, embraced by their families and pursued by more than 750 journalists who have converged on the mine, competing for interviews and images to feed to a world intensely curious to hear their survival story.

They've been invited to visit presidential palaces, take all-expense paid vacations and appear on countless TV shows.

Contracts for book and movie deals are pending, along with job offers. More money than they could dream of is already awaiting their signature.

But eventually, a new reality will set in — and for most, it won't be anything like the life they knew before the mine collapsed above their heads.

"Before being heroes, they are victims," University of Santiago psychologist Sergio Gonzalez told The Associated Press. "These people who are coming out of the bottom of the mine are different people ... and their families are too."

Officials have drawn up a tentative but secret list of which miners should come out first, but that order could change after a paramedics and mining expert are sent down to evaluate the men and oversee the journey upward.

The last out is expected to be Luiz Urzua, who was the shift chief when the men became entombed, several family members of miners told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to upset government officials.

One by one, the men will take a twisting, 20-minute ride for 2,041 feet (622 meters) up to a rock-strewn desert moonscape and into the embrace of those they love.
It should take about an hour for the rescue capsule to make a round trip, Aguilar told The Associated Press.

Goldborne said all would be ready by 12:01 a.m. Wednesday because "we have to wait for the concrete to set" around the steel tubing.

The emotional roller-coaster ride of those awaiting the miners on the surface of the coastal Atacama desert was as bumpy as ever.

Hearing that the tunnel is nearly ready "is a sensation of joy mixed with a lot of anxiety," said Maria Segovia. Her 48-year-old brother Dario is among those trapped.

When he's finally out, she said, "I'll tell him I love him, that I'm very proud of you. And then I'll kick his backside" so he never goes into a mine again," she said smiling.

Chile's government has promised each miner at least six months of psychological support.

"All of them will have to confront the media and fame, and will encounter families that aren't the same as when they were trapped," Health Minister Jaime Manalich said. "All of them will live through very difficult situations of adaptation."
Continue reading full story / link here...

[wexy]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 11:12am

I've also been following this story closely while doing my usual running around. i figured out the other day that I've been to 9 plays, 8 ballgames and six concerts, films and parties since they have been trapped on August 5th.

I plan to salute their rescue with a bottle of Chilean wine. with friends
i hope they get great care and enjoy the rest of their lives.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 7:43pm

Wexy, beautifully said.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 11:14pm

I'm weeping with joy!

...prayers continue for the remaining 32 miners and the rescue workers!

Updated On: 10/12/10 at 11:14 PM

[NYadgal]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 11:17pm

The lesson I take from all of this is the bond that the miners forged.

They organized themselves to become a band of brothers.

They could have fought and divided and weakened their chances for survival. But, together they forged a bond and found the strength to survive this ordeal.

...we can learn much from this.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 11:54pm

A friend in DC just posted:

just stumbled upon the celebration for the rescue of the miners at the chilean embassy in DC.. what a treat! ¡felicidades a los 33!

[supportivemom]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 11:55pm

I've been watching all night too! Wow- I found myself getting really emotional- especially when the son of the first miner out started crying. This is way more riveting than Baby Jessica! I'm just so happy for all of these men and their families!

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 11:56pm

I'm watching the BBC feed, and it's just astonishing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11489439

[NYadgal]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 11:59pm

from an article on the CNN website:

...But soon, if everything goes well -- and rescuers are going to great lengths to ensure it does -- the men will get to rest and enjoy life, especially the things they may have forgotten were important before their confinement: family, friends, nature, love.

They'll be able to do so knowing they taught the world a lesson. Be it by circumstance or divine intervention, the men were never goners.

After all, for the first 17 days of their imprisonment -- when others believed them dead -- the men survived more off hope than they did off the meager supplies they found in their shelter.

Their story demands we re-evaluate foregone conclusions, that we find a purpose for hope no matter our despair.

[supportivemom]

Posted: 10/13/10 at 12:03am

Beautifully written NYadgal! I don't consider myself a spiritual person but admire those who are so I was very moved when one of the miners said that there were really 34 men in the mine because G-d was right there with them.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 10/13/10 at 12:10am

Messages of support from around the world.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 10/13/10 at 12:30am

Tonight, watching the first miner emerge from the mine, I actually teared up and suddenly felt a sense of well being. Congrats to the rescue workers and to the families and friends and to those miner workers themselves!

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 10/13/10 at 12:33am

Watching Mario Sepulveda's exuberance was the most hopeful thing I've seen in a long time.

[EugLoven]

Posted: 10/13/10 at 12:38am

Why not send down a portable shower to the 30 guys remaining? Each time that empty capsule descends is a missed-opportunity for a smiling & fresh-scented miner to emerge!

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 10/13/10 at 12:40am

It's not like they look bad as it is!

/No, really.
//They look goooood....
///Hrmmmmm...