Trapped Chilean miner has a new daughter

Santiago, Agency
The daughter of one of the 33 miners trapped in a northern Chilean mine since Aug. 5 was born Tuesday in a hospital in the city of Copiapo, 804 kilometers (about 500 miles) from Santiago.

Esperanza, whose name means "hope," was delivered at 12:00 p.m. by cesarean section, weighed 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) and measured 48 centimeters (19 inches), medical sources said.

She is the daughter of Ariel and Elisabeth Ticona, whose choice of name was inspired by "Camp Hope," set up by the 200 loved ones of the miners outside the San Jose mine.

Elisabeth said after the delivery that the only thing she wants now is for her husband "to come out and get to know the little girl."

She also said that a relative filmed the delivery and the videotape will be sent on Tuesday down into the mine, where the 29-year-old father - who already has two sons - will be able to see his first daughter come into the world.

Seven hundred meters (2,275 feet) below ground, another miner, Victor Zamora, is also expecting a child with his wife Jessica, who is 13 weeks pregnant, although the couple does not yet know the sex of the child.

On the surface, the rescue teams are finalizing the details of resuming drilling with the Schramm T-130 drill in accord with the so-called "Plan B" to extract the miners, after they halted their work for more than four days, officials told Efe on Tuesday.

Before dawn Tuesday, technicians and engineers finished removing the chunks of the drill bit from the conduit it is boring after it fractured when the drill hit an iron deposit last Saturday as it reached a depth of 300 meters (975 feet), according to officials with the Mining Ministry.

The Strata 950 drill, which is being used in the so-called "Plan A" to reach the miners and is the only drill currently in operation, got to a depth of 268 meters (871 feet) and will continue its work until it reaches 300 meters, when it will be halted so that maintenance work can be performed upon it before it is started up again.