Chile makes the final push to rescue 33 men

Copiapó:The operation to rescue the 33 trapped miners in San José Copiapó will start after the final test of the capsule ‘Fenix 2' that will be transported to the mine and be used to extract the men.

The operation is expected to start at 3am UAE time (8pm in Chile).

Laurence Golborne, Chile's mining minister, said at a press conference: "We hope to finish this day with at least one of the miners on the surface. That is the objective we have planned and we are working towards that."

Golborne explained that the operation is expected to take at least 48 hours.

Stand-by units

There are two additional units on stand-by, one of which is Cage 1, which was successfully tested and reached 610 metres. The lifting system to be used to hoist the capsule is from Austria.

The size of the hole is 70 centimetres wide. The trip from the mine to the surface is expected to be completed in 20 minutes. Every time the capsule reaches the surface, an alarm will go off to alert medical staff on site.

"We don't expect too many health problems as the miners have been provided proper nutrition and they have exercised inside the mine," said Jaime Manalich, the health minister.

"Exercise was important as the miners had to be reasonably fit and lean to fit into the capsule."

The rescue process will be manned in shifts. Initially, four rescue staff will go down to the mines and help the people come up.

After a 14-hour duration, the next batch of rescue staff will go down to complete the task. The miners have expressed a desire to stay at the site till all are rescued, following which they will be taken to the hospital. But officials have said that this request is not going to be complied with for medical reasons.

— Translation by Seyyed Llata