Officials say Chilean miners could be rescued within 2 weeks

Santiago, Agency
The officials in charge of the operation to rescue 33 miners trapped in a northern Chilean mine since Aug. 5 on Tuesday said that in about two weeks they will be able to begin the final phase of the effort to extract the workers from the San Jose mine.

"Next week, we could be in shape to have all the necessary elements (in place) for the rescue," engineer Andre Sougarret, the head of rescue operations, told reporters.

The rapid progress made by the T-130 drill, which has now reached a depth of 276 meters (897 feet) in widening the 632-meter (2,054-foot) conduit that had been drilled during the first phase of the operation, has moved up the projected rescue schedule, although the officials working on the project remained publicly cautious.

"We've had to delay the machines by more than four days" because of drilling problems, Sougarret said.

Meanwhile, Interior Ministry adviser Cristian Barra said that within 15 days authorities will be prepared to carry out the rescue "at any time."

With that goal in mind, authorities are readying the mobile hospital and the facilities where the 33 miners will receive initial medical attention as soon as they are pulled from the mine one-by-one in the Fenix (Phoenix) capsules provided for the long trip up the conduit to the surface, Barra said.

With regard to the other two rescue plans that are currently under way, the Strata 950 drill, which is being used for "Plan A," reached a depth of 508 meters (1,651 feet), although it must achieve a depth of 702 meters (2,282 feet) along its particular track to get to the mine gallery where the men are awaiting rescue. And even when it does get to that depth, then the slender Plan A conduit must be widened enough for the Fenix capsules to pass through.

The RIG 421 petroleum drill, being used for "Plan C," the only one of the three machines able to drill a wide enough conduit (66 centimeters, or 26 inches, in diameter) for the Fenix capsules on its first perforation, on Tuesday had attained a depth of 110 meters (358 feet).

In the next few days, authorities are expecting the arrival at the San Jose mine of the cable from Germany that will be used to lower and then hoist the one-man Fenix capsules into which the miners will squeeze themselves for their solo journeys to the surface.