Authorities preparing to launch final phase of Chilean miners' rescue

Copiapo, Agency
Two months after the underground collapse that trapped 33 miners in northern Chile, authorities on Tuesday began preparations for the final phase of the rescue operation while three drills continued to bore down to reach the men some 700 meters (2,275 feet) underground at the San Jose mine.

At Camp Hope next to the mine, relatives of the miners paid tribute to them by loudly honking the horn of a police patrol car.

Carla Herrera, the sister of trapped miner David Herrera, said that the past two months "have taken forever," and - as she told Efe - the "most emotional" moment was on Aug. 22 when everyone learned that the miners were all still alive after 17 days "of anxiety and of not knowing what had happened."

The coming and going of relatives, emergency workers and reporters at the camp has given rise to the feeling that the actual rescue of the miners is imminent, although the Chilean government and the engineers in charge of the operation have called on all concerned to act with caution.

The T-130 drill, which is being used to pursue so-called "Plan B" in the three-pronged rescue scheme, is in the best position to reach the miners first and on Tuesday attained a depth of 466 meters (1,515 feet).

However, chief engineer Andre Sougarret said that the drilling team had been forced to reduce the diameter of the conduit from 28 inches to 26 inches to limit the wear on the drill bit caused by the hardness of the rock.

Once the conduit is completed, experts intend to insert steel tubing into it to prevent rock from breaking off from the unprotected sides and clogging the tube, although Sougarret said that a final decision had not yet been made on that part of the operation.

"We have to review different alternatives in terms of how the shaft finally is," Sougarret told reporters.

Sheathing the more than 600 meters of the conduit could delay the actual rescue attempt by between four and seven days after the T-130 reaches the mine gallery where the workers have taken refuge.

"Finally, we're going to make a measurement and see the condition of the shaft to make the most correct decision possible," Sougarret said.

Rene Aguilar, the drilling coordinator, said that on Tuesday a 10-man emergency team from state-owned copper mining firm Codelco arrived at the site to undertake the task of eventually bringing the 33 men to the surface.

Interior Ministry adviser Cristian Barra said that no decision during the course of the rescue operation had been made due to the government's interests, although President Sebastian Piñera had said that he hoped to be able to rescue the miners before he leaves on a European tour at the end of next week.

"None of the dates and decisions that have been made during the rescue are linked to the government's agenda," said Barra, adding that "the only criterion that has been used is the well-being of the miners, their state of health and the technical needs."

"What the president expressed yesterday (Monday) is that we would really like it if the rescue could be carried out as soon as possible," he said.

"There are no pre-established dates. The only thing we've said is that, according to how the plans have gone, the time period that we had been speaking of has been moved up, from the beginning of November to the second half of October," Barra said.

Meanwhile, the drill working on "Plan A" had reached a depth of 587 meters (1,908 feet) on Tuesday in the first phase of its work.

Finally, the RIG 421 oil drill, which is boring a third shaft, this one wide enough to immediately permit the extraction of the miners, had reached a depth of 265 meters (861 feet).