Alcohol a problem for some rescued miners in Chile (Feature)

By Mauricio Weibel Oct 22, 2010, 3:45 GMT

Santiago - Some of the 33 miners rescued in Chile after weeks underground are having problems controling their alcohol consumption, doctors said Thursday.

'During all this time of abstinence they had, obviously one of the things they wanted to return to was (alcohol) consumption,' said doctor Jorge Diaz.

He noted that the problems were expected by the medical team, but he noted that if things get worse the affected workers will need to be hospitalized for rehabilitation.

He recalled that two miners have already missed psychotherapy sessions intended to help them deal with post-traumatic stress, because they could not get up on time after lengthy celebrations.

However, Diaz insisted that the situation is still within the realms of what is culturally acceptable in Chile.

'One of the problems we envisaged in advance was the return to social life, which from a cultural point of view in Chile takes place with alcohol consumption,' he said.

The miners, most of them men of humble origins who worked in the mines since they were teenagers, got plenty of offers after being rescued on October 13 after 70 days underground.

Four arrived Thursday in Spain for a TV interview. One is headed to the United States for the New York marathon and to visit Graceland. All 33 were invited to watch Manchester United and Real Madrid home matches, and they got presents of free holidays in Greece and the Dominica Republic, among other freebies.

Five miners are planning weddings, and others are looking for girlfriends.

Daniel Herrera, regarded as one of the shy members of the group, had a date with Italian TV personality Barbara Predotti, who has been linked to the famous parties hosted by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Miner Yonny Barrios, famous for his infidelity, has offers to be the face of a campaign for furtive love in the United States and of men's sexual health programmes in Chile and Panama.

'They came out of the earth. It is as if they had been reborn, they are going to be happy,' the psychologist who accompanied the group in their ordeal, Alberto Iturra, said recently.

Iturra warned, however, in the face of the enthusiastic response to the miners, that the 33 men are 'a model of survival, not of manners or of life.'

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