The end of their ordeal is very much in sight now for the 33 Chilean miners trapped for more than 2 months, over 2000 feet beneath the Earth’s surface at the San Jose mine in Chile.
The rescue shaft has been dug and part-lined in preparation for the 13 foot tall rescue capsule to be lowered and pulled up again (complete with 1 miner) in a return journey that will take one hour.
Paramedics and a mining expert will be lowered first of all to evaluate the men, and the first extraction should take place in the early hours of Wednesday morning, in a capsule nicknamed Phoenix 1. Each man will then have the opportunity to be reunited with family members, before being flown by helicopter to the city of Copiapo for medical treatment.
Psychological support has been in place for the men during their ordeal far below ground, but it will be needed more so than ever before, for their reemergence into the media frenzy that will surround them. A torrent of emotion awaits the miners, and a deluge of questions from a world media trying to extract every moment of news worthiness from the story. Countless television appearances, expenses paid holidays, job opportunities, and book and movie deals will be on offer for sums of money that will make their minds boggle.
But then what?
In the fickle and fast moving world of the media, a story is chased, reported to saturation level and then shelved as world events move on to the next catastrophe or human interest event. And as for the 33 miners and their families, they will be left to pick up the pieces of their former lives, left to face a changed reality as they attempt to adapt to a strange new world.
May this week see them all successfully and safely brought to the surface once more, and may the very best of luck be with them as they try to put their lives back together again.
The rescue shaft has been dug and part-lined in preparation for the 13 foot tall rescue capsule to be lowered and pulled up again (complete with 1 miner) in a return journey that will take one hour.
Paramedics and a mining expert will be lowered first of all to evaluate the men, and the first extraction should take place in the early hours of Wednesday morning, in a capsule nicknamed Phoenix 1. Each man will then have the opportunity to be reunited with family members, before being flown by helicopter to the city of Copiapo for medical treatment.
Psychological support has been in place for the men during their ordeal far below ground, but it will be needed more so than ever before, for their reemergence into the media frenzy that will surround them. A torrent of emotion awaits the miners, and a deluge of questions from a world media trying to extract every moment of news worthiness from the story. Countless television appearances, expenses paid holidays, job opportunities, and book and movie deals will be on offer for sums of money that will make their minds boggle.
But then what?
In the fickle and fast moving world of the media, a story is chased, reported to saturation level and then shelved as world events move on to the next catastrophe or human interest event. And as for the 33 miners and their families, they will be left to pick up the pieces of their former lives, left to face a changed reality as they attempt to adapt to a strange new world.
May this week see them all successfully and safely brought to the surface once more, and may the very best of luck be with them as they try to put their lives back together again.
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