Chilean Miners

Wallace1492
Wallace1492 Posts: 3,707
edited October 2010 in Commuting chat
So glad that they have been found alive. Astonished that it will take till Xmas to get them out. Heard that they have a phone line installed to the surface, just wonder what sort of conversations will be going on.... Maybe they will order pizza....

What the hell will they be doing for 4 months, will they get paid overtime or still have to work - "listen lads, while you are down there, maybe a little digging..."

Wonder if they asked for loo roll in the first conversation....
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Comments

  • asprilla
    asprilla Posts: 8,440
    They've got miles ot tunnels down there; best game of hide and seek ever....
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  • Agent57
    Agent57 Posts: 2,300
    I'll be amazed if someone doesn't go bat-sh*t mental and start killing people. That's what would happen in the average modern "horror" movie.
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  • gtvlusso
    gtvlusso Posts: 5,112
    "Cwm by ya me lord, cwm by ya".......Suggest they order some maracas and a guitar for a bit of accompanyment.

    Bless em! They have done well!
  • bails87
    bails87 Posts: 12,998
    Agent57 wrote:
    I'll be amazed if someone doesn't go bat-sh*t mental and start killing people.
    This ought to do it:
    gtvlusso wrote:
    "Cwm by ya me lord, cwm by ya".......
    MTB/CX

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  • SimonAH
    SimonAH Posts: 3,730
    Asprilla wrote:
    They've got miles ot tunnels down there; best game of hide and seek ever....

    I understood that they were all stuck in an area about the size of a one bed flat?

    Also I don't think they've been told how long it's going to take yet...........oooooh gives me the willies.
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  • bails87
    bails87 Posts: 12,998
    "Apparently" they were told today how long it will take. And "apparently" there are miles of tunnels that they can get to, but the refuge/shelter area itself is pretty small.
    MTB/CX

    "As I said last time, it won't happen again."
  • Agent57
    Agent57 Posts: 2,300
    SimonAH wrote:
    Also I don't think they've been told how long it's going to take yet...........oooooh gives me the willies.

    Apparently, they have.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11092343
    BBC wrote:
    The 33 Chilean miners trapped deep underground have been told they may not be rescued for several months, the country's health minister has said.

    They also are said to have "about two kilometres [1.24 miles] of galleries to walk around in". So that's OK then. =)
    MTB commuter / 531c commuter / CR1 Team 2009 / RockHopper Pro Disc / 10 mile PB: 25:52 (Jun 2014)
  • Wallace1492
    Wallace1492 Posts: 3,707
    "I Spy, with my little eye, something beginning with "m"......."
    "Encyclopaedia is a fetish for very small bicycles"
  • Presumably they also had access to water and perhaps food supplies while they were down there before the probe reached them... or they'd all be dead.
  • Wallace1492
    Wallace1492 Posts: 3,707
    Presumably they also had access to water and perhaps food supplies while they were down there before the probe reached them... or they'd all be dead.

    From Wikipedia:

    "They used backhoes to dig for trapped water.[18] Food supplies were limited, and the men may have lost 8 to 9 kg (17-20 pounds) each.[17] The men rationed their supplies, consuming "two little spoonfuls of tuna, a sip of milk and a biscuit every 48 hours."[18] They used the batteries of a truck to power their helmet lamps"
    "Encyclopaedia is a fetish for very small bicycles"
  • Ahhhhh, makes sense. I mean, you can survive (I believe) for a fair while without food, but water's the real issue.
  • wgwarburton
    wgwarburton Posts: 1,863
    Hi,
    I heard that the shaft they'll be drilling to winch them out will be started from the refuge (where there were emergency food & water supplies, BTW LiT) and worked upwards, to avoid the risk of collapse. They will probably be kept quite busy moving the spoil from the shaft!

    Being stuck down a hole for four months sounds pretty bad, but given the alternative outcomes, I think I'd be reasonably content!

    Cheers,
    W.
  • FransJacques
    FransJacques Posts: 2,148
    Heard many news stories on this and what's interesting is that while your average person would wonder how they'd cope, these guys are miners at the end of the day so:

    a) are used to cramped conditions more than you or me
    b) have thought about getting trapped and crushed alive and worked with that thought daily
    c) prob had *some* modicum of training on this
    d) there's probably lots of "lore" in the industry about what to do and how to survive (probably more useful than the practical training)
    c) know they were found and efforts are being made to retrieve them
    d) have each other to look to - but that can be a double edged sword if cabin fever sets in

    Makes me feel extra lucky I had the choice in my career not to work 1000s of meters below the surface. I wonder what they're doing for oxygen. Do they have air shafts? Does air even circulate up and down a 3km shaft?

    Man is an industrious little creature but like deep sea drilling rigs, we are way out of our comfort zone in a lot of respects.
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  • MonkeyMonster
    MonkeyMonster Posts: 4,628
    edited August 2010
    "I Spy, with my little eye, something beginning with "m"......."

    :lol:

    edit stop that wallace :D
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  • Wallace1492
    Wallace1492 Posts: 3,707
    Apprantley Gary Glitter is on his way to Chile, as he heard 33 minors were trapped in a small room till Xmas....
    "Encyclopaedia is a fetish for very small bicycles"
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    I'm surprised Channel 4 haven't had a camera lowered in there, they could then show every movement 24 hours a day of a bunch of people doing nothing and eventually getting to the stage where they argue and fight. They could then make it into a TV format that everyone talks about :wink:
  • Kieran_Burns
    Kieran_Burns Posts: 9,757
    Pross wrote:
    I'm surprised Channel 4 haven't had a camera lowered in there, they could then show every movement 24 hours a day of a bunch of people doing nothing and eventually getting to the stage where they argue and fight. They could then make it into a TV format that everyone talks about :wink:

    They could call it dig brother
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  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    They could call it dig brother

    And there we must end it.
  • NGale
    NGale Posts: 1,866
    When you think about the fact that submariners survive for months on end under the sea then these guys are possibly capable of doing the same as long as they have access to food and water.
    Officers don't run, it's undignified and panics the men
  • I'm slightly confused, having looked at the diagram here as to why they don't just clear the rockfall and shore up the passageway rather than drilling a new hole to (presumably) drag people through?

    Or why they don't start the drilling from further down?
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    I wondered that. I guess that, since they've already had one further cave-in during the initial rescue attempt, that whole area must be too unstable.
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  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    I mean if ever there was a case for getting International Rescue on the case, this must be it. Where are they when you want them most eh?
  • Wallace1492
    Wallace1492 Posts: 3,707
    33 guys trapped in a mine.... they break through at Xmas to find 1 enormous guy and a pile of bones.... After all, its not too far from where Alive! Actually happened.
    "Encyclopaedia is a fetish for very small bicycles"
  • Agent57
    Agent57 Posts: 2,300
    CiB wrote:
    I mean if ever there was a case for getting International Rescue on the case, this must be it. Where are they when you want them most eh?

    I vote we put in a call to We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It, and see if they can help get in contact with IR.
    MTB commuter / 531c commuter / CR1 Team 2009 / RockHopper Pro Disc / 10 mile PB: 25:52 (Jun 2014)
  • Wallace1492
    Wallace1492 Posts: 3,707
    Pross wrote:
    I'm surprised Channel 4 haven't had a camera lowered in there, they could then show every movement 24 hours a day of a bunch of people doing nothing and eventually getting to the stage where they argue and fight. They could then make it into a TV format that everyone talks about :wink:

    They could call it dig brother

    Quality!!

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  • TGOTB wrote:
    I wondered that. I guess that, since they've already had one further cave-in during the initial rescue attempt, that whole area must be too unstable.

    Yeah, possibly, but they've only had 2 cave-ins in rather different places, so surely a bit of perseverance is in place alongside the 'drill a fookin' massive hole' effort?
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 27,487
    I think it's more a case of everything they've touched so far has collapsed, and they don't want to have to save any more trapped miners, so they are starting form something that they know is stable.

    Oh, and its a diagram, not an accurate map. Given the BBC's usual disdain for accurate detail, it might be wholly unrelated to the mine in question. The diagram I saw in The Guardian showed a neat helical tunnel descending in a spiral.
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  • rjsterry wrote:
    I think it's more a case of everything they've touched so far has collapsed, and they don't want to have to save any more trapped miners, so they are starting form something that they know is stable.

    Oh, and its a diagram, not an accurate map. Given the BBC's usual disdain for accurate detail, it might be wholly unrelated to the mine in question. The diagram I saw in The Guardian showed a neat helical tunnel descending in a spiral.

    Fair play I guess, more an attitude of surely it's worth trying! I'm sure they have their reasons, I just wondered what they were.

    And the Guardian must be right. I mean, it's printed on paper and everything... ;)
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 27,487
    rjsterry wrote:
    I think it's more a case of everything they've touched so far has collapsed, and they don't want to have to save any more trapped miners, so they are starting form something that they know is stable.

    Oh, and its a diagram, not an accurate map. Given the BBC's usual disdain for accurate detail, it might be wholly unrelated to the mine in question. The diagram I saw in The Guardian showed a neat helical tunnel descending in a spiral.

    Fair play I guess, more an attitude of surely it's worth trying! I'm sure they have their reasons, I just wondered what they were.

    And the Guardian must be right. I mean, it's printed on paper and everything... ;)

    TBH The Guardian's diagram looked even more unconvincing than the BBC's.
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  • il_principe
    il_principe Posts: 9,155
    I'm slightly confused, having looked at the diagram here as to why they don't just clear the rockfall and shore up the passageway rather than drilling a new hole to (presumably) drag people through?

    Or why they don't start the drilling from further down?

    You're wasted here in London Liv.