Shaft

When the drill finally broke through to the miners Saturday, sounds erupted in a symphony of relief: the cheers of family members, the blowing of horns throughout the mine, and the shouts of the men 2,300 feet below. For more than two months, the 33 miners have been trapped in their pitch-dark claustrophobic refuge after a cave-in at the mine in the Atacama desert in northern Chile. At one point, they were even left for dead. But at 8 a.m., the whine of the rescuers' powerful drill as it punched through the rock to reach a tunnel used by the men signaled that the end of their ordeal could be near.

George Murdock Character actor often played the 'heavy' George Murdock, 81, a veteran character actor who had a recurring role as Lt. Scanlon on the television sitcom "Barney Miller" and played God in the 1989 film "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," died Monday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, said his close friend and fellow actor Jennifer Rhodes. He had cancer. Murdock's craggy facial features and booming bass voice helped him land a steady stream of "heavy" parts in theater, film and television productions.

While we give our destitute our compassionate shaft, Germany is about to give its prostitutes health insurance and retirement (Oct. 21). LUIS FELIPE ALVAREZ Los Angeles

Davek's travel umbrellas aren't cheap, but they're tougher than most mini-umbrellas and loaded with useful features. The 9-inch-long Traveler ($79), weighing less than  1 pound, includes an auto open-close button system, a sturdy solid-steel shaft, reinforced seven-rib frame, a leather wrist strap, a built-in clip for attaching to a bag or belt loop, and a generous coverage diameter of 40 inches. The 15-inch-long Duet ($149), weighing about 1.5 pounds, is an umbrella built for two, with a 55-inch-diameter coverage.

The March 21 episode of "L.A. Law" (NBC) saw the conniving Rosalind Shays (Diana Muldaur) plummet to her death as she stepped into what everyone thought would be a waiting elevator. Alas, there was none. After giving the "shaft" to everyone else all season, she finally got hers. We certainly appreciated the humor intended. Velma Senaga, Davis, Calif.

A 16-ton winch plunged 487 feet down a shaft in a water tunnel under construction Wednesday, killing one worker and injuring 10 others, police said. The winch landed on a group of workers on platforms near the bottom of the tunnel. Seven were taken to nearby hospitals and three were treated at the scene. One worker said he was left hanging by his fingertips when his ladder collapsed from the impact. He was rescued by firefighters.

Re "Isaac Hayes, 1942-2008," Aug. 11 I have to disagree with The Times' repeated use of the term "blaxploitation" in describing Isaac Hayes' Academy Award-winning song from the Gordon Parks movie "Shaft." By using this term, you do Hayes a great disservice. "Shaft" stands on its own as an action thriller. Certainly its makers didn't set out to make a so-called blaxploitation movie -- those came later -- and I doubt Hayes set out to score such a film. William Sottile Palmdale

A Northern California man died after he fell into a mine shaft in northern Nevada, authorities said. Sheriff's deputies in Lyon County, Nev., said Terry Berardy of Mokelumne Hill, about 55 miles southeast of Sacramento, was unconscious and unresponsive after he was extricated Saturday from the shaft around the Ludwig Mine near Smith Valley. Deputies said Berardy fell at least 80 feet as he and friends and family were exploring the area. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Fourteen children were killed when they fell down a 300-foot unused well in a school playground, the Ghana News Agency reported Friday. The children, who were playing on top of concrete slabs covering the well, were sent tumbling down the shaft when the concrete caved in Thursday.

NO knock on Christian Bale's ability to get deep into any part he chooses to play, but his latest turn as a "thuggish Iraq vet" is either a step up or a backslide into the guy he played in the remake of "Shaft" a few years back ["Here Comes Trouble," Nov. 12]. Same guy now with a lot less hair and, as Bale says, more "Celtic flush." And why wasn't the "Shaft" role even mentioned by writer Fred Schruers, who didn't seem shy about filling space by running down almost every film Bale's appeared in since age 12?

The first of 33 gold and copper miners entombed half a mile below ground for more than two months were hauled into the frigid Chilean desert air early Wednesday morning, emerging from a cramped, life-saving haven and into the embrace of family members once forced to confront the likelihood of their deaths. Foreman Florencio Avalos, 31, was the first of the miners to ride up the shaft that rescuers hope will serve as the lifeline for all. Wearing sunglasses to protect his eyes from aboveground lights, Avalos squeezed into a specially fitted, bullet-shaped capsule only a shade smaller than the 28-inch diameter of the tunnel and was winched to the surface over 14 agonizing minutes.

In a test run Monday, engineers succeeded in lowering a rescue capsule almost all the way down the 2,000-foot hole through which crews plan to lift 33 trapped miners, perhaps starting late Tuesday or early Wednesday, government officials said. Chilean Mining Minister Laurence Golborne told reporters that the team preparing to retrieve the miners trapped since Aug. 5 had finished the job of partially lining the uppermost part of the shaft with metal tubing to guard against cave-ins.

When the drill finally broke through to the miners Saturday, sounds erupted in a symphony of relief: the cheers of family members, the blowing of horns throughout the mine, and the shouts of the men 2,300 feet below. For more than two months, the 33 miners have been trapped in their pitch-dark claustrophobic refuge after a cave-in at the mine in the Atacama desert in northern Chile. At one point, they were even left for dead. But at 8 a.m., the whine of the rescuers' powerful drill as it punched through the rock to reach a tunnel used by the men signaled that the end of their ordeal could be near.

CNN -- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Sunday that automaker Hyundai is recalling nearly 140,000 Sonata sedans. The recall affects certain 2011-model year Sonatas, which were manufactured from December 2009 to September 2010, NHTSA said. “On some of these vehicles the steering column intermediate shaft universal joint connections may have been either improperly assembled or insufficiently tightened,“ the agency said. As a consequence, drivers could experience a reduction or loss of steering capability.

Federal safety regulators have opened an investigation into reports of steering problems in the hot-selling 2011 Hyundai Sonata sedan. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking into whether the vehicles can sustain a separation in the steering shaft assembly that results in a loss of steering capability. Regulators are also examining whether a bolt in the steering system can become loose. The vehicles involved in the probe were manufactured during the same month at the Hyundai factory in Alabama and had fewer than 600 miles at the time of the alleged incidents, regulators said.

Federal safety officials have opened an investigation into a complaint about the steering system in Kia's small car Soul by a driver who claimed that he lost control of his car after the steering wheel came off. Although normally a single complaint is unlikely to trigger a safety probe, the incident is cause for concern because "it occurred without warning on a new vehicle at low mileage and resulted in a complete loss of steering as well as...

Rescuers working deep underground pounded away with jackhammers Thursday, inching their way through solid rock toward an 18-month-old girl trapped in an abandoned well. More than a day after slipping into the eight-inch-wide opening, little Jessica McClure could be heard sobbing and singing nursery rhymes from the bulge 22 feet down the shaft where she was imprisoned. Rescuers drilled a 3-by-3-foot parallel shaft about 30 feet deep and five feet from the well in an effort to reach her.

Vonetta McGee, an actress whose big-screen heyday during the blaxploitation era of the 1970s included leading roles in "Blacula" and "Shaft in Africa," has died. She was 65. McGee died Friday at a hospital in Berkeley after experiencing cardiac arrest and being on life support for two days, said family spokeswoman Kelley Nayo. Although McGee had been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma at age 17, Nayo said, her death was not related to the disease. McGee was described as "one of the busiest and most beautiful black actresses" by Times movie reviewer Kevin Thomas in 1972, the year she appeared opposite Fred Williamson in the black action movie "Hammer," and had starring roles in the crime-drama "Melinda" and the horror film "Blacula."

Miner Oleg Vishnyakov was on duty repairing a shaft wall 1,600 feet below the ground when he and three comrades heard the first blast Saturday night. The sound, like that of a blown-out tire, was quickly followed by the roar of a huge explosion and a hot wave of coal dust. "We never were in a serious mine accident before but knew the drill quite well," Vishnyakov recalled in a low voice as he lay in a hospital bed in the Siberian town of Mezhdurechensk. "The urge to run to your safety was strong, but you shouldn't run because thus you will spend your oxygen much faster.