Chile mine rescue efforts under way: something like space travel

(Credit: Hugo Infante/Government of Chile)

Like millions around the world, I'm currently following the live tweets, more live tweets, live blog and television coverage of attempts to pull up the stranded miners in Chile.

At left, we see the rescue capsule carrying rescue worker Manuel Gonzalez arriving in the miners' refuge, half a mile under the earth's surface. Gonzales carried a communications device to transmit back up to the surface.

VIDEO: Here's CNN's live stream. Here's the CBS News live stream. Here is a Chilean TV network's stream. And here's the BBC's.

With all the talk of tiny capsules, oxygen masks, and extreme psychological transitions, I keep thinking how much this phase of the rescue effort reminds me of astronauts' accounts of space travel. Those of you who, like me, are watching it live: aren't you reminded of Buzz and Neil landing on the moon?

I can't imagine what it's like for the trapped miners, but man, what must be going on in the mind of the paramedics/rescuers they're sending down into the mine? What kind of absolute unshakeable strength must someone have to enter that tiny rescue shaft to drop half a mile down towards the center of Earth? Whatever it is, I don't think I have that stuff within me.

Your thoughts welcome in the comments. (via Submitterator, thanks pjk)

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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jimmosk

Xeni, I’m thinking these rescuers have a lot in common with the many police and firefighters who ran into the World Trade Center towers nine years ago…
- Xeni Jardin
  
  I think you are right.
igpajo

I’m thinking at some point there’s going to be just one of these rescuers sitting down there all by themselves, waiting for that pod to return one last time. What a nerve racking hour that’s going to be!!

Agree with jimmosk…these rescuers are pretty hardcore.
Anonymous

I’m just curious, why not put a pulley at the top of that and a lot of really strong ass rope, chain, metal wire whatever, and just pull em up one by one?
Freddy de la Cruz

As a Chilean, working for a minning safety company, i can say that there is a safety line and the capsule is more that just an empty birdcage. Chile is the #1 Copper producer in the world and some of the best technology in the field is produced and/or used here. I use a Movement and Surveying Radar (MSR) to monitor a minning operation 3000 meters higher and 300 kilometers away from me.

All miners in Chile are considered a different breed. And the rescuers and firefighters are very professional due the amount of earthquakes, tsunamis and others disasters that they have to face.

Â¡Viva Chile!
- Chris Tucker
  
  “Â¡Viva Chile!”
  
  Señor de la Cruz speaks for me!
Anonymous

Why are they sending more rescuers down into the mine? And.. who is going to check the capsule for the last guy?
lectio

I’m glad there are people out there that can walk into mines to go to work. And even more glad that there are people who go down there to help rescue them (and who work on the surface to help, too).

I hope all of the 33 and the rescuers make it out safely.
chgoliz

“With all the talk of tiny capsules, oxygen masks, and extreme psychological transitions, I keep thinking how much this phase of the rescue effort reminds me of astronauts’ accounts of space travel. Those of you who, like me, are watching it live: aren’t you reminded of Buzz and Neil landing on the moon?”

Well, sure, considering the fact that NASA has been there since August 31st providing support based on experience:

http://www.nasa.gov/news/chile_assistance.html
E. Howe

Space travel? Ye gods, you’ve watched too much Sci-fi. This is a rebirthing I ever saw one–It is Gaia giving birth to humanity. Quit with the phallacy/fallacy of space travel! Xeni, I loves me some of you most of the time, but this is Way more than masks and capsules, this is a Sheila-na-gig on a world scale.
Anonymous

This mine is just 15 minutes from my uncles’ town. These people usually live in harsh and poor conditions, in the middle of the desert, with copper contaminated shores.

Watching these families cry when they see the father emerging makes me cry. It’s amazing what they have accomplished.
Dragonflye

I’ve been watching the International stream of CNN on-line all day from here in Canada and it has been very tasteful coverage. Just the background chatter of the Chileans.

I hope everything goes as smoothly as it has been so far. The total stands at 20 rescued right now with the 21st on the way up…
Antinous / Moderator

For some odd reason, I can’t stop singing Vamos Mujer. At least this has a happy ending.
moosehunter

Is pretty strange that the newcasters are going on and on about how emotionally scarred the miners are going to be, after being trapped for so long underground … huh? these guys are MINERS, its what they do-
while its uncomfortable, unplesant and tedious, its really no diffrent , in terms of ambience, that their normal day. My guess, is that it being tuesday, most of these guys will be back monday at work.

The benifit of modern practice is that these kinds of rescues are even possible, even as recent as 50 years ago would have seen the entire crew dead of aphyiation on aug 6. What we saw in Utah, and in Pennsylvania underscores that.

for the past 2 months these miners have been active in the rescue operation, normally in hard rock mining, air is blown down the shaft to remove the rock dust and debris from the boring operation- in this case, large hammer drills followed an existing hole down to the chamber where the miners were, and the miners cleared all the debris by hand as if fell down the shaft.

as for being like astronauts, I dunno, as all the the astro’s knew what they were getting into, did PR before, during and after their missions and were hand picked to be photogenic(as least the first ones were at any rate)
these miners were just going to work, and the mine blew up..

Its great to see them come out,and it underscores how dangerous the job is. One wonderes about the lack of coverage abuot the numbers of missing and dead still underground…

hopefully the chilean govt is giving them hazard back pay,,,
- Niklas
  
  “It’s what they do” is not really a good argument why you think they will not risk emotional problems. In fact it is that attitude that has allowed firefighters, police officers, medical personnel, soldiers and more to be prone to PTS and related problems before we began acknowledging the problems.
  
  No one, miners included, have innate psychological defenses that will allow them to adequately cope with being isolated in a very humid environment, starved, living under the constant threat of new shakes that might kill them, no way out, only rubble to sleep on, the stress that something might go wrong and they have to stay this way for extra months. Hopelessness is the key word here, anyone succumbing to that will be in grave danger and might drag others into similar thoughts.
  
  We should also remember that no one has survived this long underground, ever, that everyone has done it is short of a miracle.
  
  Some seem quite happy and energetic now that they have reached the surface, but once the ordinary life settles again that is when the thoughts, grinding at night, and day will come creeping.
  
  “The benifit of modern practice is that these kinds of rescues are even possible”, well, that depends, this is the first real rescue of this kind, ever, the drills had to be brought in from Germany.
  
  “lack of coverage abuot the numbers of missing and dead” That is because there were no deaths in the cave-ins. Everyone has been accounted for.
Chris Tucker

RE: The rescue miners going down the shaft:

“The Right Stuff. They has it!”

The second miner up, he brought souvenirs for the topside crew!

Chunks of rock from the mine.
prof_jellis

After the fifth miner came up, it seems they did an especially thorough check of the capsule (maybe they did this each time, and this is just the only one I caught) Anyway, I had to smile at the unmistakable sound of duct tape being pulled off the roll as they banged each roller out, for inspection or maybe replacement … engineering operations sound similar everywhere.
GaryG

Couldn’t help a cynical smile at the first picture in the BBCs slideshow (hopefully here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11529537), first miner up being embraced first by the chilean president while his family wait.

The look on his sons face though is where it’s at, the heart of this story. Good wishes to all of them.
- BurntHombre
  
  Couldn’t help a cynical smile at the first picture in the BBCs slideshow (hopefully here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11529537), first miner up being embraced first by the chilean president while his family wait.
  
  No need for the cynicism. If you watched the video, you’d see that the wife and child both had long embraces with the miner before the president stepped in.
- Alan
  
  The BBC slideshow must be a little misleading. President Pinera has been very good about holding back and letting the families greet the miners first. In fact, he even prodded the wife of the second miner, making sure she was up front.
  
  @ethancoop – the video cameras were sent down so that rescuers up top could see what was happening in case of problems. These guys thought ahead of everything.
moosehunter

in response to Niklas:

just to remind everyone that this is NOT the first time this kind of rescue has been done.

45 miners were brounght to the surface with the same type of Capsule in 2002 at QueClas in Quebec.

some of the equipmetn is german, most of it is canadian, and much of the expertice is american

its grreat to see them out, threee cheer and all that
andygates

Awesome though this is (and really, as a kid raised on Thunderbirds, it is pure awesome), I’ve now got the Sheela-na-giggles.
EeyoreX

I got a litte misty-eyed too, when the first miner came out of the hole.

So now IÂ´m just gonna toss this link in here, as a little reminder that real life doesn’t have Hollywood endings:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/chile/7978509/Mistresses-and-wives-clash-over-trapped-Chilean-miners.html

If anything, its more like a farce written by Ben Elton.
- Micah
  
  Here’s the correct link for the BBC slideshow:
  
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11529537
Gag Halfrunt

The ninth miner, Mario Gomez, has just come out.
- cjp
  
  Even hubby cried a bit when Mario came out. Guy’s got black lung but he wanted to stay in the mine to help out the others because he felt that was his place in life.
Gag Halfrunt

Number ten, Alex Vega, has just arrived.
ethancoop

“I dunno. When the rescuer got out of the pod in the mine and greeted everyone, he stood there like Superman. I’m thinking he thought he was hot shit!”

========================

My wife & I saw that too & had a good laugh about it.
The other thing I noticed when the first rescuer got down there was that one or two of the miners had video cameras recording the whole thing. Why in the world did they have video cameras?
- Niklas
  
  The video cameras had been sent down very early during the rescue operation to allow the miners contact with their families on the surface.
- Anonymous
  
  I think they send in the video cams weeks earlier so they could record videos for their family and friends, back when the hole was first drilled and too small to get people through.
timeisthefireinwhichweallburn

And here in the US we just let trapped miners die to save money…
tsdguy

Having been in EMS for a number of years in the past I can tell you that there is something that clicks when you are responding to an emergency that makes it much easier to go into situations where you would not normally do it. It’s no surprise to me that rescue folks do that, that firefighter run into burning buildings, EMT rescue victims while under fire, etc. Wish I had that much character for the “normal” parts of my life.

And just a comment – if nobody had flipped over to Fox News’ coverage – you might do so for a laugh. The requisite blond bimbo psychiatrist, the overwrought announcers and for the grand finale, continuous coverage but split screen for advertising so we can watch the rescue and the Glen Beck Gold company ads at the same time.
- sapere_aude
  
  Have they managed to find a way to blame the mine disaster and the delay in rescuing the miners on Obama yet? I’d kinda be disappointed in them if they haven’t.
  
  You know the folks at Fox must hate having to devote so much airtime to covering a story that they can’t politicize. Especially when that story might make American viewers sympathize with, root for, and even respect (*gasp*) foreigners — in particular, Latinos (or, as Fox viewers prefer to call them, “illegals”).
  - Ugly Canuck
    
    ..and working-class heroes, to boot.
    A song for all such:
    
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njG7p6CSbCU
    
    PS RIP Mr Lennon – how time flies!
KWillets

Paging Dr. Freud.
Davin

Exciting to see humans accomplishing something positive. Too much crappy news out there! All sorts of brass on the rescuer being lowered, even more on the gentlemen stuck down there without going insane.
Alan

I dunno. When the rescuer got out of the pod in the mine and greeted everyone, he stood there like Superman. I’m thinking he thought he was hot shit!
sapere_aude

When I saw the rescuer climb into the capsule to be lowered down into the mine, I thought to myself: THAT is the true definition of a “hero”. I certainly don’t think I would have the fortitude to do what he is doing. (But, then again, I don’t think I would even be able to fit inside the capsule.)
relawson

I raise my glass in appreciation of the efforts of the people involved in the rescue and the testicular fortitude of the men trapped below our Earth’s surface.

And now I can’t help but share this feeling with you all. Watching the various coverage vectors of this thing, I just want the “reporters” to SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! Seriously, take a note from the NASA coverage, show the footage of whats going on and STOP YOUR MOUTH. This is NOT a damn football game! SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP.

!@#$!!!

/soapbox
- Snig
  
  I usually think that too, kind of wish you were yelling STFU into their earpieces.
  
  Same thing at the Olympics, commentators really ruin it for me.
- Morrigan
  
  That’s why there is a mute button & I’m using it. (on the reporters)
- Alan
  
  I’m watching a live feed in another window on my browser. Just the background chatter, machines, etc.
  - relawson
    
    link pls!
    
    THAT is the real rescue, not the game announcers!
JPW

It suddenly makes a sock Cthulhu impossibly more inconsequential. . . .

Yet I’m sure that any evacuee would treasure a perfectly brewed coffee.
Anonymous

It gave me chills, watching that capsule disappearing into the rock ceiling.

Watching that wheel turning and turning . . .

Please, please, please, get them all safely out.

What a joyous moment it will be when the capsule ascends for the last time.

Grace
nik

amazing – no safety cable. The guide is held in place with a strap tied around a hook. The camera’s hover right around the hole with hundreds of unnecessary spectators. The dissolves between the cameras for effect.

What a circus.
- Niklas
  
  Eh? Are we watching the same thing? On the stream I am watching the spectators are behind a fence far away from the actual hole and all but two persons near the hole wears safety equipment.
Jack

I say this will all of the best of wishes, but there is a very positive drinking game here.
- Anonymous
  
  CHEERS!!!!!!
T’Pau

You just have to bring a stack of wood down there any you’ll be ok.
robulus

That was very moving. Well done to all concerned. 32 to go!
Ziebarf

Link to live stream:
http://www.ustream.tv/cbsnews

They’re just about to send the second rescuer down…
ctgreybeard

@Niklas I don’t think you are watching the same as I am. I’m watching MSNBC coverage which has no commentary (which is a good thing!) but I don’t understand Spanish so I have to rely on the pictures only. Regardless, it is gripping. I could easily see myself going down there if I was 40 years younger and quite a few pounds lighter.
- Niklas
  
  Seems we are watching the same feed but not interpreting what the people are doing in the same mannerâ€¦ I see no circus, I see safety equipment, I see personnel and spectators divided, I see a sheltered medical camp and I could care less about the aesthetic differences between south american and US television.