chilean miner rescue
 

Have yall seen the rescue pods the miners are being hauled to the surface. They are tiny, probably got to cross your arm coffin style to fit. 2000 ft of pipe that has different direction changes during the lift. I'm thinking that if that were the way out I may just be staying for a while. My hands got sweaty just watching the tv and imaging the ride.

Maybe they'll send some Valium down with the pod. I know I'd want the hell out of that mine. I understand the floor will drop out if the pod gets stuck and the miner can be lowered back down.

After 2 months in a hole in the ground, I'd be jumping for that little capsule!

They are sending down 2 rescuers including a medic first. The medic is going to do health check before they are sent up. It wouldn't surprise me that they are drugged for the 20 minute ride up. It is supposed to be 1 hour round trip.

Let us say a prayer for these men, that their suffering will soon be over.

And let us Cheer the Chileans! They are a can do people!

So often these things turn out so badly. What great news: They will soon be reunited with their families. Will be interesting to see them come up.

A bunch of em are arguing who gets to go last. Seems they all want the title of being trapped underground the longest.

Think they are pondering TV appearances, book deals, etc?

Same here!

I don't know, they had to put me out just get me in one of those MRI machines!

I used to crawl under gas turbines....Those were some tight places

God speed for 100% recovery.

If I were stuck down in some hole for two months and rescue finally came...They could roll me up in an old carpet and haul me out and I wouldn't care. Get me outta here~!
I heard that on the first test runs of the rescue device that they stopped it forty feet from the end so the trapped miners would not rush the pod trying to get on board. Its going to be interesting to see how this all plays out in the end. These men are going to go from rags to riches and will need some serious councilling to boot.

Still doing some trial runs, as they are concerned about the cable rubbing on the casing.

Hopefully they will start pulling them out soon!

The Chileans have been very smart on this one. They had enough sense to tell the world "We need technical help", and they got the best in the world from several countries. Imagine if this had happened under Hugo Chavez in Venezuela?

Glad to hear they are finally getting out.

I can't help but think this has been a huge PR victory for Chile, both within the country for the Chilean President and internationally for the country of Cuba. No expense has been spared in rescuing these guys...

First rescued miner is on the top!!

Fantastic story...looking like it's going to work. Kudos to all involved. :D Claustrophobia? Don't imagine many claustrophobic people work in mines in the first place.

And he said he is headed to Disney World.

Yes!

Hooray!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/world/americas/13chile.html?hp

They've still got a lot of work for ahead of them, but this is a great day for Chile.

Good they are getting them out.


Question though. How many children have starved to death while they have been working on this?

??

Best,
Tom

I hear this guy volunteered to come out last . . .

One of the trapped Chilean miners is dreading his rescue after his wife met his secret mistress at the entrance to the San Jose mine, The Sun reported Thursday.

Yonni Barrios' wife, Marta Salinas, and Barrios' lover, Susana Valenzuela, were both holding vigils for him outside the mine.

Salinas was stunned when she heard Valenzuela shouting his name amid a crowd of miners' loved ones.

Salinas, 56, is said to be "horrified". However, she is determined not to give up her man to her love rival.

She told friends: "Barrios is my husband. He loves me and I am his devoted wife. This woman has no legitimacy."

But Valenzuela said the 50-year-old miner, who she met on a training course five years ago, was planning to leave his wife for her.

She said: "We are in love. I'll wait for him."

Barrios has been one of the heroes of the landslide drama -- using his first-aid training to treat sick colleagues.

He also vaccinated all 33 men, including himself, against flu and pneumonia.

My point is.... How much time and money was spent to save 33 lives? How many thousand lives were lost that could have been saved with that time and money?

I agree, what a waste of money. They should have been left to die so the money could have been used to save other lives.

Do you think the rescuers were taken away from their usual jobs of saving starving children, to rescue the trapped miners?

Best,
Tom

Sidney, you lost some respect points from me.

Bet you wouldn't have suggested this if they had been American miners SmileWavy

Stupid, stupid, stupid argument. And such poor reasoning, too.

When reading McLovin's posts, green text is implied. porka4life, OTOH. He probably stopped hitting the peyote. Needs to partake as his thinking is not right.

Oops -- quoted the wrong text. I do believe McLovin is tongue in cheek.

Maybe if that was YOUR Son you may have a diferent view:rolleyes::rolleyes:

On the average, 1 child dies every 5 seconds as a result, either directly or indirectly, of hunger - 700 every hour - 16 000 each day - 6 million each year - 60% of all child deaths (2002-2008 estimates)

Wiki Cites:
# Food and Agriculture Organization Staff. “The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2002: Food Insecurity : when People Live with Hunger and Fear Starvation”. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2002, p. 6.
# Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Economic and Social Dept. “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2004: Monitoring Progress Towards the World Food Summit and Millennium Development Goals”. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2004, p. 8.
# Jacques Diouf. “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2004: Monitoring Progress Towards the World Food Summit and Millennium Development Goals”. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2004, p. 4.
# Food and Agriculture Organization, Economic and Social Dept. “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2005: Eradicating World Hunger - Key to Achieving the Millennium Development Goals”. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2005, p. 18.
# Human Rights Council. “Resolution 7/14. The right to food”. United Nations, March 27, 2008, p. 3.

This is such a great story. It's wonderful to see human beings when they're at their best. All too often we only get to see them at their worst.

Rescuing the miners is a goal oriented task. The goal is very obvious get them to the surface alive. I can’t imagine how anyone can say it was not worth rescuing them. If it meant enormous risk to the rescuers it would be a different story. In the end a few million dollars will be spent. I bet if you asked the citizens of Chili if they would donate 5 cents each to rescue the miners everyone would pony up.

Saving the starving children is a grand goal of the world that will never be accomplished. There will always be irresponsible parents that did not really want a kid they just wanted an orgasm.

Dude, you are WAY off base on this one.

My thoughts exactly.

As for starving children? Let's talk about NASA's expenditures over the last 50 years. Or nuclear arms expenditures by numerous countries. Etc. Etc.

This is a human triumph & a feel good story with a happy ending. A rare event.

Ian

NASA's expenditures have likely saved more lives than anyone can count. Go into any ICU in the country. The remote monitoring equipment is all from NASA. The imaging equipment, is all from NASA.

You are right it is a feel good story.

OK, Glen then use Russia's budget to their satellites during the cold war or Hollywood's movie-making budget or the money spent to send talking heads to Washington (election budgets) or whatever massive expenditure with questionable value that you want.

I repeat: This is a human triumph & a feel good story with a happy ending. A rare event.

Ian

They couldn't use calming drugs on the miners in case they needed them do to react in the event of a problem during the lift. They may need to fix something on the fly, or have to climb out of the capsule and decent back into the mine.

It seems that everyone "up-top" was more worried about the condition of the miners than the miners were -- seems they were well organized, calm, and under control.

Maybe some of those guys should be the ones counselling the folks who were all bent out of shape topside...

Amazing story - I've been following it on-and-off for some time -- it seems they went beyond just survival -- they dealt with the whole ordeal in a very, very positive way. The Chileans must be a resiliant bunch!

@Sidney: while I appreciate your concerns about starving children across the world, what does that have to do with the price of tea in China, or the plight of trapped miners in Chile? Finally there's a story of hope in this world -- there's no need to cast a shadow on it the way you are attempting to.

Z-Man, maybe my whole catalog of posts should be green.