Freedom In Sight: Crane Arrives At Chile Mine
Thursday, 7 October 2010 06:57
Large pieces of a crane that will be used to winch 33 trapped Chilean miners to safety are in place - as hopes increase the men could be free as early as next week.
After a day when preparations to extract the stricken group moved more swiftly than anticipated, relatives held a candlelit vigil at the San Jose mine.
The parts of the red crane were followed by another lorry with large boxes containing the Navy-designed rescue capsule, nicknamed the Phoenix.
A 16-person specialist rescue team - who will bring the men to the surface - has also arrived at the site, near the town of Copiapo , 800km north of Santiago.
Made up of medics, mining experts and firefighters, teams of six will work shifts around the clock during the rescue.
Four will remain on the surface, while two will join the miners underground to make sure they are comfortable in the narrow cage for the 20-minute, 2,300ft trip to freedom. But first they have to drill a bore wide enough to allow the cage to move up and down freely.
Officials said the drilling crew is making fast progress, burrowing 53m in 16 hours to bring them within 100m of a chamber the miners can access.
Of the three test drills grinding through the rock, the Schramm T-130 - or Plan B - is performing the best.
With the bore created, rescuers will then assess whether the sides are smooth enough for the capsule, or whether it should be lined with metal casing.
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http://www.capitalfm.com/news-travel/world/freedom-in-sight-crane-arrives-at-chile-mine/~~~~~More rescue capsules arrive at Chile mine
Thu Oct 7 2010 05:37:45
Two more rescue capsules designed to haul out 33 miners trapped deep below ground in Chile have arrived at the mine head.
The devices - built by the Chilean Navy - join another one which arrived at the site on the weekend and are intended as back-up capsules.
The capsules will be used to winch the men - trapped since an August 5 cave-in - from deep below ground. Rescue work has accelerated this week and hopes are high that the men could be rescued by mid-October at the latest.
The men have been trapped 2,300 feet underground since the accident. Their fight for survival has captivated the country and drawn messages of support from Pope Benedict and World Cup soccer stars.
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http://itn.co.uk/34a521bee944f5911cf75ee6568d77ff.html~~~~~Chile engineers weigh up weekend mine rescue risks
12:00 PM Thursday Oct 7, 2010 Share
It's the nightmare scenario: The earth shifts just as a miner is being pulled to safety, jamming his escape capsule somewhere between the surface and the underground cavern where 33 men have waited for two months to be rescued.
A partial collapse in the shaft carved through nearly a half-mile of rock could trap the man in a spot where even the most powerful drills couldn't free him.
With the rescue drill likely to reach the men by Friday, Chile's government is planning to guard against such a disaster by inserting steel pipe that can withstand tons of pressure into the shaft, and giving the miners a smooth, ride up to safety. But some experts fear that inserting the pipe is risky in itself.
Engineers must determine whether they can push the 40-foot (12m) sections of pipe through curves in the shaft without having the welds crack.
An accident could send tons of steel hurtling downwards or cause a section to get stuck part way down, blocking an exit route that has taken more than a month to drill.
More:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10678797