September 04, 2010|By Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times Reporting from the San Jose Mine near Copiapo, — Above ground, the scene is alternately somber and surreal: Anxious loved ones, fingering crucifixes blessed by Pope Benedict XVI. Four scientists from NASA, warning that light deprivation is their greatest worry. A Mexican norteno band in black suits and cowboy hats, offering a USB flash drive with its songs for the men. And now, giving advice on keeping spirits up, survivors of the 1972 Andean plane crash that inspired the movie "Alive."
Below ground, a stomach-dropping 2,300 feet down, almost as deep as two Empire State Buildings laid end to end, are the men.
FOR THE RECORD: Chilean miners: An article in the Sept. 5 Section A about trapped Chilean miners gave an incorrect spelling for the name of a survivor of the 1972 Andean plane crash who visited the site. His name is Gustavo Zerbino, not Servino. —
They cannot see the floodlights that illuminate TV reporters from as far away as Japan and France as they interview family members. The only light to pierce their midnight darkness is the shaky beams from their headlamps and the eerie green glow of little plastic tubes that yield their chemical glimmer when snapped in half.
For a month now, the 33 Chilean copper miners have been trapped together in their 600-square-foot "refuge," after they miraculously survived an Aug. 5 cave-in at the San Jose mine here in northern Chile. As a nation, and the rest of the world, watches transfixed, experts have swarmed the site to offer advice on how to cope.
But only "Los 33," as they call themselves, really know what it is like to live with the awful darkness and isolation.
In their room, about the size of a modest one-bedroom apartment, the men have endured 90-degree temperatures, suffocating humidity, the skin-crawling feeling of being buried alive —and the knowledge that they may remain trapped for at least two more months as rescuers dig through solid rock to reach them. In two videos released by the government, the men are shown sweaty and emaciated but bravely smiling, waving a Chilean flag and saluting the camera.
Andre Sougarret, the lead government engineer in the rescue effort, said Friday that three competing holes will be drilled 200 yards from one another in efforts to open up an escape hatch for the miners as quickly as possible. One is in progress and has so far been dug down 130 feet. The second will start operation Sunday, and the third by Sept. 18 —Chile's independence day. Engineers have told the miners that the targeted rescue date is sometime in the second half of November.
Keeping the miners healthy, physically and, perhaps more important, mentally, is the daunting task the Chilean government now faces. At a Friday news conference, NASA and Chilean officials acknowledged that they have considered the possibility that one miner could crack and harm others.
Alicia Campos agonizes over the emotional health of her 27-year-old son, Daniel, one of the trapped men.
"I'm worried that the whole experience could leave a scar on his mental state, the effect of being down there so long," said Campos, who traveled more than 500 miles from her hometown of Marchigue to be close to him. "It's natural to think it is driving him crazy."
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Each of the miners has undergone a simple psychological evaluation during a one-hour medical consultation with a team of five doctors and has filled out a long-form questionnaire.
Alberto Iturra, a psychologist who is a member of the team monitoring the miners, said he believes the miners generally are "very healthy." The written answers are more telling than the brief appearances the workers have made in the two videos, he said.
"The force of the handwriting, their mental organization it shows, gives us more to work with," Iturra said.
But Adriana Espinoza, a psychology professor at the University of Chile, expressed worry about their emotional states.
"Psychological concerns are high because when they first found the 33 miners, they realized there were five of them showing symptoms of depression, and they were worried that could have an impact on the rest of the people, the rest of the miners and on the family members," Espinoza said. "That could be detrimental because they are going to be there a long, long time."
At the Chilean government's request, NASA last week sent a team from the Johnson Space Center to share experiences and give pointers gleaned from sending astronauts into space for long periods.
Michael Duncan, the NASA team leader, said the challenges of the rescue are "unprecedented."
"The Chileans are basically writing the book on how to rescue this many people, this deep, after this long underground," Duncan said.
At a news conference Friday evening, he detailed the advice the U.S. space agency gave to the Chileans, noting the similarities between the situation of the miners and the "long-duration isolation" that astronauts experienced.
