Anyone else watching the Chilean Miner Rescue?

haha said:
Super impressive in every weay. THE miners are amazingly strong, and the governemnt and I suppose teh mining company did a great job of constructing and operating a very simple but apparently effective system of escape.

Does anyone know if the ascent is made in darkness, or is there a small light in the capsule?

I wonder if these guys will be able to head back down in the future.

Ha
Click to expand...

We can't lose sight of the fact that these men are tough men from a very different culture than the US. They are used to living in small spaces and sharing their lives as part of a communal society with each other. I just don't see Americans being able to handle this type of isolation as well as these men handled it. They are less likely to have PTS than someone from this culture. They will go right back to their lives and wouldn't need psychiatrist and anti depressants for the rest of their lives. It just the way people in most of the world handle crisis.
 
[-]I didn't see them sending another rescuer down, so I think it's only 5 rescuers, and I think the first is coming up the shaft now.[/-]

CNN says it's 6 rescuers down there. The first started coming up 9:20 ET, so he should be up now?
 
Letj said:
We can't lose sight of the fact that these men are tough men from a very different culture than the US. They are used to living in small spaces and sharing their lives as part of a communal society with each other. I just don't see Americans being able to handle this type of isolation as well as these men handled it. They are less likely to have PTS than someone from this culture. They will go right back to their lives and wouldn't need psychiatrist and anti depressants for the rest of their lives. It just the way people in most of the world handle crisis.
Click to expand...
Yes, most of the trapped miners were experienced miners. One had even been trapped in a mine and rescued 3 times before!

But one was brand new to mining - a mechanic, and that day of the disaster was the first time he had ever been in a mine. Another (or a pair of brothers?) have only worked for the mine for 4 months - 70 days of which were trapped in the mine. Someone else was fairly new too - and had come from a different business. So they weren't all hardened veterans.

I think individual people vary widely enough, even within a given culture, that you can't make assumptions about what people can handle or not.

Audrey
 
audreyh1 said:
[-]I didn't see them sending another rescuer down, so I think it's only 5 rescuers, and I think the first is coming up the shaft now.[/-]

CNN says it's 6 rescuers down there. The first started coming up 9:20 ET, so he should be up now?
Click to expand...

I saw him get out. Yahoo!

Ha
 
It's a truly inspiring story. And I thought El Presidente handled it well. When they breached the shaft he gave a morale boosting speech. It was good that he was there to greet the miners.

Apparently a Chilean gazillionaire is giving each miner about $10K, or one year's wages, and the miners already have a strategy worked out to make the most of their new celebrity. They had a lot of time to plan down there. Probably none of them will ever need to mine again.
 
Meadbh said:
And I thought El Presidente handled it well. When they breached the shaft he gave a morale boosting speech. It was good that he was there to greet the miners.
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Not to throw cold water on what is an absolutely wonderful outcome, but I heard El Presidente was in hot water with his Chilean constituents over how he handled the earthquake situation. He supposedly saw this as a once in a lifetime PR opportunity and orchestrated placing himself center stage for the rescue operation.

Have you noticed every camera and all the coverage (other than from vantage points several hundred yards away) is from Chilean govt TV?

He's definitely a politician...
 
I agree, it was definitely a political stump speech opportunity! And he took full advantage. But it was also important to be there representing the country in welcoming back each rescued miner and thanking the rescuers. Such is the privilege of head of state.

Audrey
 
Letj said:
We can't lose sight of the fact that these men are tough men from a very different culture than the US. They are used to living in small spaces and sharing their lives as part of a communal society with each other. I just don't see Americans being able to handle this type of isolation as well as these men handled it. They are less likely to have PTS than someone from this culture. They will go right back to their lives and wouldn't need psychiatrist and anti depressants for the rest of their lives. It just the way people in most of the world handle crisis.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, I would invite you to speak with any of the crew of my former US Navy ballistic missile submarine. We went underwater on strategic deterrent patrol for 67 days at a time. 120 men in a tube 33 ft in diameter and 380 feet long, also filled with a nuclear reactor, 16 giant missiles and a boat load of various machinery and electronics. That's 67 days under hundreds of feet of water with no sunlight, no fresh food, no calls, no letters, no contact with the outside world. For a pack of Americans, I think we managed fairly well.

That said, there were three major differences between us and the miners. We were all there voluntarily, we knew how long we would be there, and the means of our egress were under our own control. That, of course, makes a world of difference.
 
Last edited:
And the rescue took only two months instead of the original four expected. Kudos to the above ground engineers, too.

From an 8/23/2010 article:

...The trapped workers will likely not see the light of day until Christmas. Drilling a hole large enough to allow the miners to be hauled out one by one will prove a challenging feat and require equipment not currently at the site. "A shaft 66 centimeters (26 inches) in diameter will take at least 120 days," said Andres Sougarret, the engineer in charge of the operation.
Click to expand...

Chilean Miners Found Alive but Could Be Trapped Till Christmas
 
4 rescuers up, 2 to go. I hope they show the ascent of the last rescuer. Spanish TV stations have quit broadcasting mine coverage, but maybe they'll pick it back up during the 10pm CT newshour.
 
The 2nd to last rescuer is in the tube making his ascent. I'd hate to be the guy left alone. Perhaps he has TV connection with the surface to help him out.
 
I see now that he has a telephone link. He is chatting up a storm with people up top.
 
It's live on CNN now. He's talking to the surface and you can see his silhouette while he awaits the capsule to arrive.

Now why did they decide first rescuer down was last one up? I guess the most experienced?

Audrey
 
Here comes el ultimo!

And he's out 12:30 AM!
 
It has been amazing watching this throughout the day. I just got home after my investment club meeting and find all the miners are out and most of the rescuers. Wow reality tv at its best.
 
Kudos Chile! Strong leadership and unity make such a big difference in the outcome of a crisis!
 
OK, so after the news cameras all disappear, the question is whether or not mine safety conditions will be improved and these guys' ordeal will make a lasting contribution, or was it all just a great opportunity for news fodder, political pandering and a world group hug. Let's meet back here in a year and see.
 
Today happens to be the 23rd anniversary of another event in which someone was trapped in an underground area for a while. "Baby Jessica" McClure fell into a small well in Texas on October 14th, 1987, and the coverage of her rescue turned into a media circus, especially for the fairly new cable TV network, CNN.

Jessica McClure - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

McClure was trapped for only a few days but I recall similar joy as I watched the coverage on TV during her rescue. She is nearly 25 years old, is married, and has a son. Her two main rescuers have not done so well. One committed suicide and the other is in jail. I hope the Chilean mine rescuers don't end up like McClure's rescuers.
 
What was the significance of that phone that one of the miners displayed?
 
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