Countdown to Chilean rescue: Scenes from the camp (Feature)

By Jan-Uwe Ronneburger Oct 8, 2010, 1:43 GMT

Buenos Aires/Santiago de Chile - Maria Segovia is the 'mayor' of Camp Esperanza, the settlement named 'hope' to express the emotions of family and friends gathered at the mine rescue site.

Since the mine collapse on August 5, loved ones of the 33 men trapped 700 metres underground have hunkered around the mine near Copiapo in the desperate hope for good news.

Their prayers could soon be answered as officials said that rescuers could begin extracting miners as early as Wednesday - if the most advanced shaft reaches the rescue chamber on the weekend as planned.

Certainly, what had been expected to be an agonizing wait, perhaps as late as December, could be over within days.

Segovia, known as 'queen of the empanadas' for the traditional pastries she makes, has a brother, Dario, among the trapped miners. She sent him a message recently via Chilean television: 'Much strength, my little one, we love you. Hang in there.'

The miners have been reconnected to the outside world since August 22, when rescue workers got the first signs of life.

Now, families await news of the completion of a shaft large enough to lift the men, one by one, to the surface.

Around the mine in the remote, desolate Atacamba Desert, a huge settlement has sprung up of boring rigs, mobile homes, satellite antennae and chemical toilets. A school has even been set up for the children of the trapped men, whose famlies in many cases have moved to the site for the duration of the ordeal.

Hundreds of journalists have been camped out for weeks, and up to 2,000 are expected to converge on desert over the coming days to cover the rescue.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, who has a 'heartfelt' wish to be with the family members at the moment of rescue, is due to leave on October 17 for European capitals. The question is whether the rescue shaft can be operational by then.

The fastest of the three drilling operations could be finished as soon as Saturday, when it could reach a work station, at a depth of 628 metres, to be used as the rescue chamber.

The August 5 collapse closed off the mine at a spot about 400 metres deep. It's not clear exactly where the 33 men were at the time, but they had to descend to a well-supplied shelter at 700 metres and now must climb back up to the work station for the rescue.

When the shaft is finished, its inner surface will be examined centimetre by centimetre to make sure there are no loose rocks.

If loose debris hurtling down the shaft struck the rescue cage, it could endanger a miner inside. 'Such a piece would arrive with the speed and force of an object from a 210-storey building,' mining expert Miguel Mellado warned.

Loose rock could also block the shaft, the head of the rescue team, Andre Solugarret, has pointed out.

Engineers could reduce such risks by lining the shaft with steel pipe, which is already on the scene and ready if necessary, but installing pipe would delay the rescue by four to eight days.

'If you want the most secure solution, then you have to put in the steel lining,' said the head of Geotec, which provided the Schramm T- 130 drill, one of three rigs boring rescue shafts.

Pinera denied that his travel plans would put pressure on the engineering decisions. 'I cannot imagine that anyone is mean enough to even come up with such an idea,' he said.

When the extraction starts, two rescue workers will be lowered down the shaft: firefighter Pedro Rivero and Chilean Navy specialist Cristian Bugueno. They will ride down in the steel 'Phoenix' cage - specially built by the Navy - to help the miners one at a time climb in and ride to the surface.

It could take 90 minutes for each miner to be lifted in the narrow elevator-like structure to the surface, and send the cage back down. In all, the rescue operation could take about two days for all 33 men.

Officials say the miners are well prepared for both the rescue and the massive media crush afterward. One of the issues is how to respond to aggressive, pushy questions or questions that intrude on privacy, said head psychologist Alberto Iturra.

The men had been nearly given up for dead for 17 days after the mine shaft they were working collapsed. A small drill finally got through on August 22, picking up signals of life. Since then, the narrow bore hole has carried down food, water, electricity, communications equipment and connections, and water lines.

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