US experts, German equipment to help miners in Chile

Aug 31, 2010, 22:41 GMT

   Santiago - Experts of the US space agency NASA arrived in Chile Tuesday to contribute to the rescue of 33 miners trapped 700 metres under the Atacama desert in northern Chile.

Hours earlier, the special Australian drill Strata 950 started digging a 15-metre hole into the ground, whose work was later to be pursued further using a new drilling head and a more powerful rig motor, both fresh from Germany.

This equipment was expected to speed up the effort, which was still to take three to four months according to Chilean authorities. Relatives of the miners greeted with applause the arrival of the head and the motor.

The workers have been trapped underground since the shaft they were working in collapsed on August 5. Only after 17 days did Chilean authorities confirm they were alive and manage to regain contact with them, through small drill holes used to send down food, water, medication and news from their families.

Once the access is broadened to accomodate human size, the rescue will still be slow. Six rescue workers will first be sent down to help the gold and copper miners into the rescue capsule, Chilean daily El Mercurio reported Tuesday.

Then, it will take three to five days to pull the miners up, each one at quite a slow pace for safety's sake.

According to German experts, the drilling was set to progress seven to eight metres per day into the gold and copper San Jose mine in the town of Copiapo.

'That would be a good performance,' Klaus Stoeckmann of the Mining Machinery Association told the German Press Agency dpa.

The workers have now moved to a drier area of the mine.

The NASA experts are to help rescue efforts in psychological, operational and health-related aspects.

   The NASA delegation includes NASA's deputy chief medical officer James Duncan, its space health specialist Albert Willard Holland, flight surgeon James D Polk, and principal engineer Clint Cragg.

Cragg will also be active in waste management, a key issue for the survival of the miners, since infections are one of the main risks they face underground.

   Chile asked NASA to help the miners survive in a small space - just like astronauts do - for up to four months.

The miners, who have kept strict living and working rhythms despite being trapped, have to deal with scarce oxygen, in almost constant darkness, with temperatures above 35 degrees and high humidity.

   Chilean authorities have developed a special plan to keep the workers fit both physically and psychologically. The initiative includes tests, vaccines, a balanced diet and an exercise routine.