While experts 680 metres above them devise the quickest and safest rescue plan, the 33 miners stuck underground in northern Chile prepare for the three to four months it could take to get them out.
On Monday morning, the first batch of supplies arrived, 18 days after a partial collapse of the San Jose gold and copper mine, 800 kilometres north of Santiago.
The limited food and medical supplies went down the same borehole – 15 centimetres in diameter – in which the messages went up Sunday, on the end of a drill, notifying the world that the miners had defied all odds and were still alive. The hole will now be their lifeline for the next few months.
Crews are drilling two identical holes and plan to assign different uses to all three – communication, supplies and ventilation – while a bigger drill begins its work to dig a hole wide enough to bring out the men one by one. For the miners, who range in age from 19 to 63, this deep, dark labyrinth will be their home until they are rescued.
The space
The miners are trapped at one of the lowest levels of the mine, where it is pitch black and a constant 30C. Although they were gathered in a small room designated as a refuge, which the drill first perforated on Sunday, there is more than a kilometre of tunnel throughout three levels, which experts say are safe to use as roaming space.
“At that depth, they aren’t at risk of another collapse,” said Enés Zepeda, the director of the federation of professionals and supervisors for Chile’s state-run copper company, Codelco, and a national specialist in mine safety. The corridors are three metres wide by three metres high.
The facilities
In the refuge, there are 30 chairs, a few benches, blankets and a reserve of oxygen, but no beds. “The refuge doesn’t interest them very much,” Mr. Zepeda said. However, the room does contain perhaps one of the most important items underground – a portable toilet. Mr. Zepeda said instructions are being sent down on how to use and clean it over a long period of time.
There are also two small pickup trucks in the space, although the men have been told not to use them, but to save the batteries for light instead. They must also conserve the batteries from their head and belt lamps.
Mr. Zepeda said there would already have been a few books and magazines underground and the miners have electronic games on their cellphones – the only use the phones serve at this point.
Sustenance
On Monday afternoon, the first supplies arrived for the miners – hydration tablets, high-energy glucose gel and a few medical supplies, including antacids. The packets were sent down the hole wrapped in plastic and nicknamed “palomas,” meaning messenger doves.
The miners are in good health, they reported Monday afternoon, considering they have endured 18 days with limited supplies. Several have reported losing weight and one has stomach problems. An earlier concern about a lack of oxygen has abated, as the miners said they are breathing more or less normally. However, more oxygen is expected to be sent down in the coming week.
Mr. Zepeda said that once the other two boreholes are drilled and fully functional, they will be able to send down solid foods, such as bread, yogurt and milk, to start. However, it takes more than an hour to send items down the hole and into the vulnerable underground.
Communication
The first grainy and dark video images of the miners were broadcast Sunday night, but crews are working to set up a permanent telephone line to reach the miners.
Officials in Chile emphasized how communication, especially with medical teams and with family members, will be crucial to maintaining the mental health of the miners. As of late Monday, wires were being lowered so the miners could speak to their families.
Special to The Globe and Mail
