“Hey! I think Eduardo just died.”
“Ai! That is very sad!”
“For him, and for us. We have three months left to go down here.”
“Uh oh.”
Never mind the palomas for now, send down un buitre, por favor…
This is what I was thinking. I understand it’s hot down there, they’re already dehydrated, and they’ve probably lost a lot of weight because they’ve been trying to stretch out the rations. Hydration gels, fresh water and really nourishing food have to have the highest priority. But I hope somebody has the good sense to send down some whisky or something else for morale. The GOOD stuff.
And when they come up? After they’ve been reunited with their families, make sure there’s a flush toilet and a hot shower waiting for them. They’re going to deserve it more than almost anyone else in recorded history.
I wonder how long until they resort to homosexuality?
That’s probably the worst idea ever.
No, they’ll start with the guy who keeps asking, “So, what’s new? How was your day?”
The Hallmark Channel movie is no doubt already in production, ready for a Christmas release to coincide with the men’s return.
ISTM you can put up with almost anything, as long as you know when it’s going to be over. As long as they have a supply of necessities and communication, I think they’ll be fine mentally.
They’re sending down necessities and medication - am I alone in assuming that one of the medications is going to be tranquilizers? “Wake me up when they break through.”
The room that they are in is not the only space they have. It is apparently connected to a main mineshaft below the point of collapse. Hence they had enough space to maneuver a backhoe to dig for water and they didn’t all asphyxiate within the first few days.
How big is the shaft they have, that they can send down food and bring up waste, but that they can’t bring up people? And have they considered widening that shaft somehow?
I don’t know the state of mining in most countries, but I have a feeling that if this wasn’t an international story, they’d probably get a couple days off and sent back into the mine to work.
15 centimeters, “the circumference of a grapefruit”.
I think the problem with attempting to widen it is that you risk falling debris closing it, the only lifeline curently available to transport air, food, medicine, etc. Plus, I’m not sure about the mechanics of the second hole but in conventional rock drilling a lubricating and residue removing mud circulates throughout the borehole. Drilling anywhere near that existing shaft would cause a loss of circulation material, flood the chamber below, etc.
If you haven’t seen it, this is a good illustration of the predicament.
Damn, as someone with a severe phobia of being trapped in an enclosed and/or dark small space, I’ve gone from feeling shortness of breath, moments of panic and relief as I’ve read various posts in in this thread.
I can only vaguely imagine what they’re going through.
I was listening to a show about this on NPR today and they were saying the miners still haven’t been told it’s going to be four months?!
Why wouldn’t you tell them this immediately?
Well, if it’s true, they’ve got four months to break the news to them. And if it works out that it’ll be faster, no harm done.
If, however, it ends up taking more than four months, that would be a massive disappointment.
It reminds me of an old joke -
While the newlyweds are on their honeymoon, the wife’s brother is looking after the house. After a couple of nights, she phones back, just to find out how things are going. First thing she asks is ‘How’s the cat?’
The brother says ‘I’m sorry; the cat died.’
She says 'You stupid asshole! We’re gone for six weeks; you could have broken that to me gently. You could have started with ‘The cat’s on the roof and we can’t get her down.’ Then the next time I phoned, you could have said ‘Well, she’s at the vet’s - she took a pretty nasty fall off the roof.’ and then the next time you could have said 'I’m sorry, we did our best, but she didn’t make it.
The brother apologizes for being so blunt, and the sister apologizes for taking the news so badly. Once she calms down a little, she says ‘So, how’s everything else? How’s Mum?’
The brother pauses and then says ‘Mum’s on the roof and we can’t get her down.’
And they’d dock their pay for “backhoe rental.”
Any idea how long until they evolve to this? It’s probably better to just plug the hole and forget about them, I’ve saw the documentary Descent, it can get really nasty.
FWIW, I think people with severe or even moderate claustrophobia are unlikely to take jobs down a mine. It’s like an acrophobe taking a steeplejack job; the first day at work will either kill you, cure you or get you fired.
I can’t help thinking that when they do get out the miners might be very useful research subjects for NASA, ESA and anyone else wondering what prolonged space travel (and space accidents) might do to humans. Small group, confined space, prolonged isolation in an unnatural and threatening environment…it’s a cold thing to say, but this is an excellent natural experiment. I just hope they have adequate time to clean up and chill out before the psychologists show up with questionnaires.
Oh, I’m sure of that but I was just imagining even the strongest and most even-keeled of them would have to reach a limit, if not in the seventeen days they’ve already been trapped in there continuously, but due to the stress of whatever number of days it will now take to get the them out.
120 more days? Somebody hand me a fan, and pass the smelling salts. I’m getting the vapors!
Actually, on the TV news tonight they said that NASA has been consulted for their expertise on people living long-term in very tight spaces they can’t leave. Really, there are some striking parallels between living on a space station and being trapped in a mine once you get past the surrounded by rock vs. surrounded by vacuum difference.
Sounds to me like these are resourceful guys and they’re already self-organizing and pulling together for their common good. And that is great. Can they keep it up for 4 months? That’s a long haul when you can’t get away from each other.
I am very glad that this mine apparently had an appropriate emergency shelter and some supplies down there. There have been recent mine accidents where that was not the case.
No doubt, receiving communications from the surface and knowing people are working to get them out will be an enormous boost to morale. Assuming these guys aren’t stupid, they’ll already know that rescue will take time. Those topside might be wanting to assess their mental and physical health as much as possible before gently breaking the news about expected time frame.
Yesterday, my husband said those guys should get paid for every hour they’re stuck down in the mine. Hey, I could get on board with that, even thought I doubt it would happen in real life.
Communication with the outside world will be enormously important. Not only can they get news of family, they can also get current events so when they get above ground again they won’t be so out of touch, they could get news on their favorite sports teams, all sorts of things that will give them something to discuss which will help pass the time. They might be able to roll up magazies or newspapers and send them down, playing cards, and yes, maybe MP3 players, too. Keeping morale up and preventing mental breakdowns is just as important as food and water
Maybe I’m hopelessly naive but I would think that’s a given; they will be compensated for their time at least. Although perhaps not, as a poster above said, if this weren’t an internationally visible incident.