First Rescuer Sent Down Into Chilean Mine as Rescue Nears for 33 Trapped Miners

  • Thread starter Thread starter duffyk4
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

duffyk4

Guest
I thought maybe everyone could use some happy news! Thank you God for answering the prayers for all those who have been there so long!

foxnews.com/world/2010/10/11/chiles-miners-heroes-fame-fleeting/

SAN JOSE MINE, CHILE – Tests are done. The rescue capsule is ready. And the first rescuer has boarded for a 40-minute trip about 2,000 feet below the surface.

After waiting 69 days to be rescued, the Chilean miners trapped underground had to wait a little longer Tuesday evening, but the rescue capsule now appears ready to make its way down to them.

Officials expect it to take about an hour for the capsule to return with its first survivor – one of the Angels of the Bicentennial, as they are affectionately known in this country, which recently celebrated its 200th birthday.

Family members were bundled against the cold and holding little ones in a tent nearby. About 200 yards from the mine, a bonfire has been lit, and one of the miners’ families lives here under a canopy tent, braving the brutal cold that has blanketed this remote desert.

One of the Chilean TV stations has hung a big screen so everyone can see the pool coverage and closeups of the capsule as it is altered and prepared a few last times before everything begins.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera patted the side of the custom-built capsule proudly as the last act of the mine collapse ordeal approached. No one in history has been trapped underground so long and survived.

“We made a promise to never surrender, and we kept it,” Pinera said earlier as he waited to greet the miners, whose endurance and unity captivated the world as Chile meticulously prepared their rescue.

Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said he hoped that the first of the 33 miners would still emerge before midnight – several hours later than what Pinera had previously announced. Goldborne said that’s because the capsule would be lowered “very slowly” for methodical testing with a rescue worker inside once all the cables are attached and tested.

A mine rescue expert will be lowered in the capsule and raised again to test it, and then that rescuer and a Navy special forces paramedic will be lowered to the men to prepare them for the trip. Only then can the first miner be pulled to safety. It is expected to take as many as 36 hours for the last miner to be rescued.

Families and reporters huddled around televisions and bonfires as a preliminary list of the order of rescue was announced. Florencio Avalos, the 31-year-old second-in-command of the miners, was to be the first miner out.

Avalos has been so shy that he volunteered to handle the camera rescuers sent down so he wouldn’t have to appear on the videos that the miners sent up in recent weeks.

The last miner out is also decided: Shift foreman Luis Urzua, whose leadership was credited for helping the men endure 17 days with no contact from the outside world after the collapse. The men made 48 hours worth of rations last that entire time before rescue crews could drill holes to them and send down more food.

Janette Marin, sister-in-law of miner Dario Segovia, said the order of rescue doesn’t matter. "What matters is that he is getting out, that they are all getting out.

“This won’t be a success unless they all get out,” she added, echoing a feeling of solidarity that the miners and people across Chile have expressed.

The paramedics are empowered to change the order of rescue based on a brief medical check once they’re down below with the miners. First out will be those best able to handle any difficulties and tell their comrades what to expect. Then, the weakest and the ill – in this case, about 10 suffer from hypertension, diabetes, dental and respiratory infections and skin lesions from the mine’s oppressive humidity. The last should be people who are both physically fit and strong of character.

Chile has taken extensive precautions to ensure the miners’ privacy, using a screen to block the top of the shaft from more than 1,000 journalists at the scene.

The miners will be ushered through an inflatable tunnel, like those used in sports stadiums, to an ambulance for a trip of several hundred yards (meters) to a triage station for an immediate medical check. They will gather with a few family members, in an area also closed to the media, before being transported by helicopter to a hospital.

Each ride up the shaft is expected to take about 20 minutes, and authorities expect they will be able to haul up roughly one miner per hour. When the last man surfaces, it promises to end a national crisis that began when 700,000 tons of rock collapsed on Aug. 5, sealing the miners into the lower reaches of the gold and copper mine.

The only media allowed to record them coming out of the shaft will be a government photographer and Chile’s state television channel, whose live broadcast will be delayed by 30 seconds or more to prevent the release of anything unexpected.

(cont’d)
 
(cont’d)

The worst technical problem that could happen, rescue coordinator Andre Sougarett told The Associated Press, is that “a rock could fall,” potentially jamming the capsule partway up the shaft. But test rides suggest the ride up will be smooth.

Panic attacks are the rescuers’ biggest concern. The miners will not be sedated – they need to be alert in case something goes wrong. If a miner must get out more quickly, rescuers will accelerate the capsule to a maximum 3 meters per second, Health Minister Jaime Manalich said.

The rescue attempt is risky simply because no one else has ever tried to extract miners from such depths, Davitt McAteer, who directed the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration during the Clinton administration. A miner could get claustrophobic and do something that damages the capsule. Or a rock could fall and wedge it in the shaft. Or the cable could get hung up. Or the rig that pulls the cable could overheat.

“You can be good and you can be lucky. And they’ve been good and lucky,” McAteer told the AP. “Knock on wood that this luck holds out for the next 33 hours.”

Golborne, whose management of the crisis has made him a media star in Chile, said authorities had already thought of everything.

“There is no need to try to start guessing what could go wrong. We have done that job,” Golborne said. “We have hundreds of different contingencies.”

As for the miners, Manalich said, “It remains a paradox – they’re actually much more relaxed than we are.”

Rescuers finished reinforcing the top of the escape shaft early Monday, and the 13-foot (four-meter) tall capsule descended flawlessly in test runs. The capsule – the biggest of three built by Chilean navy engineers – was named Phoenix I for the mythical bird that rises from ashes and is painted in the white, blue and red of the Chilean flag.

The miners were to be closely monitored from the moment they’re strapped into the claustrophobic steel tube to be hauled up the smooth-walled tunnel. They were given a special high-calorie liquid diet prepared and donated by NASA, designed to keep them from vomiting as the rescue capsule rotates 10 to 12 times through curves in the 28-inch-diameter escape hole.

Engineers inserted steel piping at the top of the shaft. They stopped short of initial plans for the sleeve after it became jammed during a probe of the curved top of the hole, which is angled 11 degrees off vertical at its top before plunging like a waterfall. Drillers had to curve the shaft so that it would pass through “virgin” rock, narrowly avoiding collapsed areas and underground open spaces in the overexploited mine, which had operated since 1885.

A small video camera is in the escape capsule, trained on each miner’s face for panic attacks. The miners will wear oxygen masks and have two-way voice communication.

Their pulse, skin temperature and respiration rate will be constantly measured through a biomonitor around their abdomens. To prevent blood clotting from the quick ascent, they took aspirin and will wear compression socks.

The miners will also wear sweaters because they’ll experience a shift in climate from about 90 degrees Fahrenheit underground to temperatures hovering near freezing after night falls. Those coming out during daylight hours will wear sunglasses.

Seconds before each miner surfaces, an ambulance-like siren will sound and a light will flash for a full minute. Officials are calling this the Genesis alarm, meant simply to alert doctors that a miner is arriving.

Many steps have been taken to protect the emerging miners from the media. Photographers and camera operators will be able to see light but little more from a platform set up more than 300 feet (90 meters) away.

After initial medical checks and visits with family members selected by the miners, the men will be airlifted to the regional hospital in Copiapo, roughly a 10-minute ride away. Two floors have been prepared where the miners will receive physical and psychological exams and be kept under observation in a ward as dark as a movie theater.

Chilean air force Lt. Col. Aldo Carbone, the choppers’ squadron commander, said the pilots have night-vision goggles but will not fly unless it is clear of the notoriously thick Pacific Ocean fog that rolls in at night.

Families were urged to wait and prepare to greet the miners at home after a 48-hour hospital stay. Manalich also said that no cameras or interviews will be allowed until the miners are released, unless the miners expressly desire it.

The miners’ neighbors looked forward to barbecues and parties to replace the vigils that they’ve held since their friends were trapped.

Several of Urzua’s neighbors told the AP that he probably insisted on being the last one up.

“He’s a very good guy – he keeps everybody’s spirits up and is so responsible – he’s going to see this through to the end,” said his neighbor Angelica Vicencio, who has led a nightly vigil outside the Urzua home in Copiapo.

U.S. President Barack Obama issued a statement praising the efforts of rescuers, including many Americans. “While that rescue is far from over and difficult work remains, we pray that by God’s grace, the miners will be able to emerge safely and return to their families soon,” he said.

Chile has promised that its care of the miners won’t end for six months at least – not until they can be sure that each miner has readjusted.

(cont’d)
 
(cont’d)

Psychiatrists and other experts in surviving extreme situations predict their lives will be anything but normal.

Since Aug. 22, when a narrow bore hole broke through to their refuge and the miners stunned the world with a note, scrawled in red pen, that announced their survival, these families’ lives have been exposed in ways they never imagined. Miners had to describe their physical and mental health in minute detail with teams of doctors and psychologists. And in some cases, when both wives and lovers claimed the same man, everyone involved had to face the consequences.

Alberto Iturra, chief of the psychology team, encouraged them to wait at home: “I explained to the families that the only way one can receive someone is to first be home to open the door.”

(end of post)
 
👍👍

I just watched live coverage of the first miner to come up on CTV news.
They say in 33 days all 33 men will finally be up.

Thank-you Lord.
 
I’ve been watching this for hours - truely incredible - one of mans finest hours for sure - Thanks be to God.
 
Three of them have been rescued now. The procedure seems to be holding to the one person per hour rate which was predicted, so this will take awhile to complete. Complications could still arise, such as a rock dislodging and blocking the shaft. But the biggest concern is that one of the miners might become claustrophobic and panic during the ascent, possibly damaging the equipment. The miners can not be sedated because they need to be alert in case they need to take action during their rescue.
 
I was moved to tears as I watched the 9th miner rescued. After greeting his wife and giving assurance that he was ok, he fell to his knees and prayed. The others moved away from him and waited as he thanked God. I found myself praying along with him.
 
THANK YOU LORD! THANK YOU DEAR BLESSED MOTHER FOR HELPING WITH THIS CRISIS! :gopray2::clapping::clapping:
 
Seventeen miners rescued as at this time. Today, we also celebrate the Feast of the Miracle in Fatima. Is’nt that just marvellous? Anyone else notice that the miners emerge from the capsule wearing t-shirts with “Gracias Senor” in front? Thank you, Lord.
 
The Chileans have apparently named this entire rescue effort after Saint Lorenzo, the patron saint of miners.

Here is a news photo (click to make larger) of an effigy of St. Lorenzo carried to a Mass at the mine site. Its from August 10th, before the miners were found alive.
 
Dale_M said:
The Chileans have apparently named this entire rescue effort after Saint Lorenzo, the patron saint of miners.

Here is a news photo (click to make larger) of an effigy of St. Lorenzo carried to a Mass at the mine site. Its from August 10th, before the miners were found alive.
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing the photo. The BBC commentator mentioned it earlier but no photo of the statue. The commentator also commented on the hope held by the miners which springs from their Catholic faith.

My favourite quote:

Mario Sepulveda: * “I was with God and with the devil. And I reached out for God.”*

Chilean President speaking to the British Prime Minister: “…we had faith. I’ll see you next week David.”
 
I am very happy for all of these miners and their families.

Here is a link which gives some brief information about each miner:

msnbc.msn.com/id/38868849/ns/world_news-americas/

Some interesting information about Esteban Rojas:

*Rojas rediscovered love during his time underground. He and his wife have been together for 25 years and have three children and two grandchildren, but they never had a church wedding. While underground, he sent a note to his wife asking her to marry him again, this time in a formal church ceremony. *
 
It looks as those so far, 20 of them have been rescued! Praise be to God! :extrahappy:
 
Something from the BBC.
0518The BBC’s James Read says the number 33 has taken on a special significance for the miners, who are known to be superstitious: there are 33 miners, it took 33 days for the drill to complete the rescue shaft and Roman Catholic Chileans believe Jesus Christ was 33 when he died. Even President Sebastian Pinera mentioned the “magic number” in his triumphant speech after the first miner emerged from the shaft. The date of the rescue 13/10/10, adds up to - you guessed it - 33.
Click to expand...
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/9086813.stm
Click to expand...
Nearly there…:extrahappy:
 
I’ve been trying to read what their shirts say, and thankfully I found someone who blogged about this.
  • The front chest part says “Gracias Señor” (and Thank you Lord in English underneath that which is the same) and I think on the front star it says “Porque no hay nada imposible para Dios”
    which is “because nothing is impossible with God”
  • On the side of the sleeves it says “Jesús”
  • On the back it is the words from Psalm 95:4 “Porque en su mano están las profundidades de la tierra, y las alturas de los montes son suyas” (“In Whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also.”)
  • Also on the back underneath the Psalm 95:4 words it says
    “De Él es la Honra y la Gloria” (“Of His is the Honor and the Glory”)
I think there is more, but some of the words are too small to read.

Five more to go!!! Let’s keep praying 🙂
 
I also like what one of the miners said, that it was not 33, but 34, because God was them 👍
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top