Drilling begins on escape route for Chilean miners

A huge drill began digging a planned escape route today as 33 men stuck half a mile (800m) underground in Chile became the longest-trapped miners in recent history.

The men were trapped on August 5 when a landslide blocked the shaft down into the San Jose copper and gold mine in northern Chile's Atacama Desert. Last year, three miners survived 25 days trapped in a flooded mine in southern China, and the Chileans passed that mark today.

While doubts and extreme challenges remain, experts said the rescuers have the tools to get the job done -although the government still says it will take three to four months to reach the miners.

"The drill operators have the best equipment available internationally," said Dave Feickert, director of KiaOra, a mine safety consulting firm in New Zealand which has worked extensively with China's government to improve dangerous mines there.

"This doesn't mean it will be easy," he added. "They are likely to run into some technical problems that may slow them down."

The 31-ton drill made a shallow, preliminary test hole today in the solid rock it must bore through, the first step in the week-long digging of a "pilot hole" to guide the way for the rescue.

Later the drill will be fitted with larger bits to gradually expand the hole and make it big enough for the men to be pulled out one by one.

Before rescuers dug small bore holes down to the miners' emergency shelter, the men survived 17 days without contact with the outside world by rationing a 48-hour supply of food and digging for water in the ground.

Apart from their rescue, a union leader has expressed concern for the men's livelihoods.

San Esteban, the company that operates the mine, has said it has no money to pay their wages and absorb lawsuits, and is not even participating in the rescue. State-run mining company Codelco has taken over.

Union leader Evelyn Olmos called on the government to pay the workers' wages starting in September, plus cover the roughly 100 other people at the mine who are now out of work and 170 more who work elsewhere for San Esteban. Its licence has been suspended by the government.

Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said the government was prohibited by labour laws from assuming responsibility for the salaries. He said it was up to the mining company and would have to be worked out in Chilean courts.

Mr Golborne noted the extraordinary circumstances of the mine collapse but pointed out that there are many other Chileans who lack a job and said the government cannot be responsible for all of them.

Union leaders and others blame the government in part for the San Jose accident because the mine had been cited for safety violations in the past but was allowed to continue operating.

In 2007, executives were charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of a miner. The worker's family settled and the mine was closed until it could comply with safety rules, said Senator Baldo Prokurica, who has long called for tougher regulations.

The next year, the mine reopened even though the company apparently had not complied with all the regulations, he said, adding that the circumstances surrounding the reopening are being investigated.

Workers in the current rescue operation are using the three existing bore holes to deliver food, water, air and medicine to the 33 miners, who are trapped about 2,200ft (670m) underground in a shelter large enough to walk around in.

In an eight-minute video released by the government, the second made by the trapped miners, about a dozen of the men sent greetings to their families and said they were feeling better since receiving the sustenance and supplies, including special clothes to keep them dry in the hot, humid mine.

The government said last week that five of the miners were suffering from depression, but Mr Golborne said from the mine site on Sunday that those men were doing better, had received antidepressants and were getting counselling.

Helping raise their spirits, the men spoke for about three minutes each to a family member on Sunday after a telephone line was lowered down one of the three existing 6in (15cm) bore holes.

The men, while showing courage that has inspired people throughout Chile and the world, could not help but break down when speaking about their loved ones on the latest video.

"I'm sending my greetings to Angelica. I love you so much, darling," said 30-year-old Osman Araya, as his voice choked and he began to cry. "Tell my mother, I love you guys so much. I'll never leave you. I will fight to the end to be with you."

The video showed the men mostly upbeat, joking on camera and talking about their absolute certainty that they would get out alive.

Experts say maintaining high morale among the men is essential. They will play a key role in winning their own rescue: the drilling technique that must be used means that up to 4,000 tons of rock and debris will fall down into a large mine shaft near the shelter - but far enough away from the men that they will not be in any danger.

Officials have said it is essential the men be at their best physically and mentally because their own work clearing the rocks will be vital to keeping their eventual escape route from becoming plugged.