San Jose Mine: A two-month-old nightmare ordeal for 33 men trapped deep underground in a Chilean mine appeared near an end with a risky final operation to bring them to the surface set to begin Tuesday.
The delicate and lengthy process of lifting each man out one by one was to commence at around midnight on Tuesday, according to Mines Minister Laurence Golborne.
"The rescue is closer than ever," said Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, who spoke from Ecuador but was planning to be on hand to meet families ahead of what he called "a marvelous moment."
Rescue workers on Monday completed tests using the steel capsule some 20 inches in diameter that will lift each miner out of the ground, a process that could take 48 hours to complete.
"It would be wonderful if it was a little bit earlier, but we will take all the time we need," Golborne said.
Rare spirit
Engineers have been rushing to reinforce an escape shaft for 33 men trapped over two months down a mine in Chile, as the men below argued over who should be let up last.
"I would like to illustrate what they are going through today with a conversation we had," Health Minister Jaime Manalich told a press conference near the San Jose mine on Sunday.
"I questioned them and mentioned we were working on an order in which they would be brought out. I said the order would be determined by technical factors.
"And what was their reaction? 'Mr. Minister, that's fine but I want to go last please.' And then another guy said, 'No, my friend, I said that I was going to be the last one up.' 'No, no, really - I want to go last, please,' another guy started saying."
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By being able to put aside their needs and wanting their colleagues to have a chance at freedom and fresh air first, "they have had a really commendable spirit, of solidarity and commitment to their friends," Manalich stressed.
As to their health condition, the minister said they were doing well, and were in "very good shape. The people at the bottom of the mine were healthy people the day of the accident."
In addition "they are mature people and very self-sufficient people, who have been able to face a test the likes of which probably no one has in human history," Manalich said.
The miners will begin a special liquid diet about 12 hours ahead of the rescue operation expected to start Wednesday.
The aim is to reduce any nausea and vomiting during their removal from the depths of the mine, while still keeping up their caloric intake.
Engineers, meanwhile, were reinforcing the shaft that will be used to finally free the men.
Saturday, rescuers announced they had completed a 622-metre-deep shaft through to the emergency shelter where the men have survived since the August 5 collapse at the gold and copper mine in northern Chile.
Mining Minister Laurence Golborne told reporters the men could begin the ascent, one by one, on Wednesday. An additional 48 hours are needed to install the metal cage and the complex pulley system for lowering it to the miners and lifting them out.
The first group of miners to exit will be several of the strongest men, followed by a group considered the weakest due to chronic health problems like high blood pressure or lung ailments, and ending with more of the stronger ones, officials said.
If the timetable holds, all the miners could expect to end their ordeal of nearly two and half months by Friday.
They have been trapped deep beneath the desert floor after a partial collapse that blocked the mine exit, surviving longer than anyone has before under similar circumstances.
For weeks the men were feared dead. But on August 22 they attached a note to a drill bit that had broken through to the chamber where they had taken shelter, saying they were all alive, well and awaiting rescue.
Hundreds of journalists and camera crews from around the world have converged on the mine, hoping to capture the first images of the miners at the surface.
