'We need oxygen... and tooth brushes' say trapped Chilean miners

A prayer for the living: a banner carrying the pictures of all 33 miners with the legend: "Let us pray for our trapped brothers"
12 April 2012

The 33 miners trapped underground in Chile told rescue teams on the surface today that they have been surviving on tuna, tinned milk and biscuits.

Fearing there was not enough air in their chamber, they used a newly-installed communication system to ask for oxygen — and toothbrushes. Capsules containing rehydration tablets and glucose were sent down.

The first tunnel to reach the men is used for supplies, a second, a new one completed yesterday, is for communication and a third, still being worked on, will provide ventilation, said mining minister Laurence Golborne.

Above ground, doctors and psychological experts are debating how to keep them sane during the estimated four months it will take to dig a tunnel wide enough to get them out of the chamber half a mile underground where they have been buried for 19 days in the San Jose mine, 500 miles north of the capital Santiago.

"They had two little spoonfuls of tuna, a sip of milk and a biscuit every 48 hours," said Sergio Aguilar, a doctor on the rescue team. Officials released a tape, in which the miners are heard singing Chile's national anthem.

Each man reported feeling hungry but well, except for one with a stomach problem.

Officials said they wanted to keep keeping the miners informed and busy. "They need to understand what we know up here at the surface, that it will take many weeks for them to reach the light," health minister Jaime Manalich said.

Engineers reinforced the first six-inch borehole by using a long hose to coat its walls with a metallic gel to decrease the risk of falling rocks. The lubricant also makes it easier to pass down capsules nicknamed "palomas," Spanish for dove.

The first of the packages, which are about five feet long and take about an hour to descend, held rehydration tablets and a high-energy glucose gel to help the miners begin to recover their digestive systems.

Their shelter is a living room-sized chamber off one of the mine's lower passages, far from the rockfall that trapped them. It is easily big enough for all 33 men, and they can walk around in tunnels. The temperature is 32-34C. Actual food will be sent down in several days, after the men's stomachs have had time to adjust, said Paola Neuman of the medical rescue service.

Rescuers also sent down questionnaires to determine the men's condition, as well as medicine and small microphones to enable them to speak to their families during their long wait. A foreman, Luis Urzua, 54, has assumed leadership.

An enormous drill capable of carving a 26 inch-wide tunnel through solid rock and boring at about 65 feet a day was on its way to the mine. It was donated by the state-owned Codelco copper company and carried on a lorry festooned with Chilean flags. Just setting it up will take at least three more days.

The miners' relatives are suing the mining company and claim they were put at risk in a mine known for unstable shafts and rockfalls. Company executives deny the accusations.

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