33 Miners in Chile are Alive, but Stuck for Months

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Damned good to hear this has a happy ending.

[Mikey]

It's good to hear that this has come to an end with no loss of life.

One thing that's going to interest me about this is the psychological studies that will undoubtedly be done into this incident. A bunch of random guys, not screened or specially selected in any way, trapped in a small area under constant mental stress and with no hope for a quick escape should anything go wrong for a long period of time? I'm sure space agencies across the planet will be delighted to read the results that come out of this. After all, our first Lunar/Martian colonies pretty much are going to be a bunch of people trapped in a small area under constant mental stress and with no hope for a quick escape should anything go wrong.

I'm certain that we'll be still reading about this incident a decade from now.

In fact, some of the guys involved in the Pennsylvania incident described above were in counseling for over 18 months - and while they were much more deprived, having no access shaft for food, water, or supplies - they were only trapped for three or four days.

[Vic]

One thing that went to mitigating the isolation was that a respected foreman (Luis Urzua) took charge. He set up areas for sleeping, working, eating, etc. He also set up a daytime nighttime rotation with mining vehicle headlights, they knew where a source of water was and dug to it. He made sure that the worst off made it up first and he came up last. He made sure that all of his people made it out.

[Mikey]

Indeed, keeping the guys on shifts, with a diurnal light cycle, was a huge help - as was an access shaft for supplies.

What impressed me was that the prediction was to have the rescue apparatus in place by Christmas, and to have it take upwards of 48 hours to get the 33 miners out. Instead, it was ready two months early, and took barely past 24 hours to get all 39 people out.

I also liked how the Chilean president thanked the presidents of Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay, et. al. - but didn't mention the U.S. at all. I mean, all we did was build and send the rescue apparatus, donated other equipment, eye protection for the rescued miners, NASA physicians, etc. I'm sure that pales in comparison to the efforts of a local cheerleader.

[SolkaTruesilver]

One thing that went to mitigating the isolation was that a respected foreman (Luis Urzua) took charge. He set up areas for sleeping, working, eating, etc. He also set up a daytime nighttime rotation with mining vehicle headlights, they knew where a source of water was and dug to it. He made sure that the worst off made it up first and he came up last. He made sure that all of his people made it out.

Actually, if I remember right, they wanted the most agile/skilled miners to get out first, so they would be able to cope better if there is a problem on the way up. Then they bringed back the worse-off, health-wise, once they made sure the way was safe and easy.

And at the end was the strongests.

[Tyyr]

And the guy who's Mistress and Wife were both waiting for him. I bet he wanted to stay down in that hole.

[Tsukiyumi]

And the guy who's Mistress and Wife were both waiting for him. I bet he wanted to stay down in that hole.

"You know, guys, I think I'm fine down here... I absolutely love it in fact. Yep! This is going to be my new home..."

[Vic]

[shran]

If this would have happened in Europe or in the US the upper echelons of the mining company would have been completely gutted because teh accident could happen. But here it was used to rally the country together as a common goal, or it was at least depicted as such.

An interesting observation.

[stitch626]

If this would have happened in Europe or in the US the upper echelons of the mining company would have been completely gutted because teh accident could happen. But here it was used to rally the country together as a common goal, or it was at least depicted as such.

An interesting observation.

Actually, if this had happened in the US, they would have died.

[Mikey]

If this would have happened in Europe or in the US the upper echelons of the mining company would have been completely gutted because teh accident could happen. But here it was used to rally the country together as a common goal, or it was at least depicted as such.

An interesting observation.

Actually, if this had happened in the US, they would have died.

This did happen in the U.S., and the guys were out in under 4 days.

If this would have happened in Europe or in the US the upper echelons of the mining company would have been completely gutted because teh accident could happen. But here it was used to rally the country together as a common goal, or it was at least depicted as such.

An interesting observation.

Most observers believe that a governmental reaming of the mining concern responsible for San Jose Mine is coming very soon.

[stitch626]

This did happen in the U.S., and the guys were out in under 4 days.

Which one was that. Every mining accident I heard of had someone die.

[Tyyr]

They got their priorities right. Get the men out, then assess blame. Never ceases to amaze me how often people, not just the government, will try and assess blame and completely ignore the problem until it's been assessed and the guilty punished. They got the job done first then they started figuring out who to blame.

[Mikey]

This did happen in the U.S., and the guys were out in under 4 days.

Which one was that. Every mining accident I heard of had someone die.

It was a Pennsyltucky anthracite mining accident - in fact, the one which bore and inspired the winch-and-capsule resuce method which was just used at San Jose.

[Angharrad]

This did happen in the U.S., and the guys were out in under 4 days.

Which one was that. Every mining accident I heard of had someone die.

That's because you look for death in everything.