I wonder how they will choose which order they go up? Drawing names?
I saw an article that said the cage will be sent down with a medic first, and he will help the miners, one at a time, into the rescue cage. Raising the cage will take 15 minutes or a little more. With time to get each man into the cage, raise it to the surface, get the man out and to safety, inspect the cage, and lower it back down again, they expect each rescue to take about an hour. I don’t know if one medic will be down there the whole time or if several will take it in shifts, but however they do it, that is a very brave thing to do.
I just got done reading Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by Parshall and Tully. A bunch of men were trapped belowdecks on one of the burning Japanese carriers, and had resigned themselves to their fate, when one man noticed a porthole to daylight. They smashed it open, and one by one they pushed each other out the porthole to the dubious safety of a sinking ship and perhaps a life raft in the open Pacific – except the man who’d found the porthole, who was too thick to fit through it.
There were no tools to cut through the steel. The rest of the men left him, listening to him singing a patriotic song as the heat rose in the compartment around him.
I was wondering that myself. I would think there’d be a maximum as to how ‘un-used’ to the light your eyes would get down there. But would you hit that point after a few hours? days? weeks?
they did have dim light down there. headlights from the truck, led lights, and miner lamps. nothing like a well lit room or sunlight. it will take a bit for their eyes to adjust.
very nice of oakley to send down wrap around sunglasses. they sure will need them for quite a while.
i’d like to know how a professional futball player becomes a miner. that has to be an interesting story.
Actually, that’s not as insane as it sounds… years ago, there was a soccer player from somewhere in S. America who was assassinated by a fan after he returned to his country after scoring an own goal that cost, IIRC, his national team in an international tournament.
It’s amazing to see these men being rescued. I just ran across an article from the Christian Science Monitor that looks at some of the reasons this has been so successful.
I was most impressed by how organized the group remained (I linked to the page with that reason).
It’s awful that this happened, especially since it was preventable; but having the opportunity to see an operation like this come together is wonderful. Here’s hoping that the remaining miners make it back up safely.
Well there are professional football players and there are insanely overpaid megastars. Judging from his wikipedia page Franklin Lobos was a journeyman player in the Chilean leagues who had one appearance in the Chilean team at the 1984 Olympics. He probably made a reasonable wage during his career but still needed to earn a living after his retirement.
Well done to all the rescue workers who made this happen. It was nice to hear one of the miners paying tribute to their efforts when he came up.
That was pretty much what was going on at work today–a countdown. The people in my company who work in the safety and rescue division were amazed at how smoothly it was going. It is an astonishingly well-planned and well-executed rescue, with (so far) no screwup of people or accident of fate at all. Magnificent work from everyone involved.
I couldn’t watch when a miner reached the surface. The greetings and hugs from family made me cry, and that doesn’t suit me at all.
Don’t forget, there will be five rescue workers to bring up as well. The story’s not over until the fat lady sings.
I wonder if they’ll let anyone else down? Safety inspectors? Geraldo Rivera?
One of the reasons this has gone so quickly is that the capsule is not twisting and rotating on the way up as they expected it would. That allows it to be drawn up more quickly. That’s wonderful.
It’s done, the last miner is out. (I know there are five more rescuers to come up.)
I am unfortunately in the computer lab at my volunteer job so the tears that have been brimming in my eyes all day have to be held back a little longer.
I have never been happier for 33 people that I don’t know (and their families and countrymen). I can’t believe how emotional this is causing me to be. What is it about this situation that’s having this effect on me?
