Chilean miners!

[CCTAU]

Have you been following this? It will be about 5 months underground before these guys get a chance to be rescued. Then they will have to spend 3 hours in a 2 foot basket just to reach the top. If this is pulled off, it will be incredible.

The Chilean miners trapped 2.000ft below ground level will have to be the cause of their own rescue and clear 3,000 tonnes of broken rock to be freed from the mine.

The digging operation, named “Operation San Lorenzo” after the martyred Christian saint, will take around three to four months to complete. Rock drilled by a 31-tonne drill will fall through a tunnel that has started being bored.

While the 33 trapped men appear in high spirits and are being sent food and clothing, they face non-stop shifts using wheelbarrows and industrial sweepers. Rock is expected to start falling near the men in around a month.

Experts have expressed concerns about the work the men will have to undertake when in a fragile mental state.

A mine rescue manager with the Canadian government Alex Gryska said "The thing that concerns me is the welfare of workers, their mental state. That will be real tough."

"From a health perspective, it's hot down there. They're talking about working 24/7 in 85 degrees for two months. Their mental state for that work will be critical," Gryska said.

The miners have so far survived exceptional conditions, and spent more time down under than any other miners in recent times.

Once the tunnel is secure, the men, aged between 19 and 63, will have to be extracted safely, which is another time-consuming and delicate task.

They will be lifted out one by one in a purpose-built metal cage - a trip that will take three hours for each miner.

If no problems are encountered, all 33 men will be taken out of the mine in four days.

"Nothing of this magnitude has happened before; it's absolutely unheard of," Gryska said.