Trapped Miners Told To Sing For Their Sanity

Sky News ^ | August 26th 2010 | Trapped Miners Told To Sing For Their Sanity

[Cardhu]

Chilean officials have been giving the advice to the miners who became trapped nearly half a mile below the surface in a collapse on August 5.

One thing they are not telling the men is that it could take as long as four months to drill them out.

The miners have a general idea how long the rescue will take but they have not been given specific details, Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter said.

"I hope that nobody commits the imprudence of telling them something like this," he said.

"We have asked the families to be careful in the letters they write.

"It's going to be very hard. We're going to have to give them a great deal of attention, care and psychological support."

When asked by Chilean president Sebastian Pinera what the miners most needed, shift foreman Luis Urzua said: "That you rescue us as quickly as possible, and that you don't abandon us.

"Don't leave us alone... We hope that all of Chile shows its strength to help us get out of this hell."

Mr Pinera promised they would "not be left alone" and that the "entire country is with you all".

Mr Urzua went on to tell the president about the "frightening" moment the mine shaft collapsed.

"We felt like the mountain was coming down on us, without knowing what happened," he said.

"Thanks to God, we still hadn't gathered together to go out to have lunch... At 20 minutes before 2 (their usual lunch hour), the mountain came down on top of us.

"For about four or five hours, we couldn't see a thing. After that we saw that we were trapped by an enormous rock that filled the entire passage of the tunnel."

Rescuers have drilled a 6-inch-wide hole to the shelter

[massgopguy]

“In the event of something happening to me.
There is something I would like you all to see.
It’s just a photograph of someone I once knew.
Have you seen my wife Mister Jones?
Do you know what it’s like on the outside?
Don’t speak too loudly you might cause a landslide.
Mister Jones.”

[Truth29]

"Uhm, how about sewage?

I?d go crazy if I had to share a room with 33 people and 4 months worth of steaming piles."

From what I have read elsewhere, they have access to a section of the lower part of the mine, as well as the refuge chamber, so they are using a section away from where they are staying for sewage.

[mlizzy]

year year = each year

[1rudeboy]

[or] teach them how to play role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.

Remember, they will be down there for four months and we want them to be sane when they get out, and not all emo and stuff.

[RadiationRomeo]

I wonder what the temperature is down there. They’re a half mile down so I would guess that its hot.
The first thing I would want is some light. Then some better food. Then something to do. I would have to keep busy. I would request lots of technical magazines to keep my head busy. And bourbon. Lots of bourbon.

[BookaT]

Nothing in Nothing out comes to mind when talking about waste products. There is no need for them to eat a lot or drink more than they will excrete through their skin via sweat or by breathing.

How big is the hole? Could they send down something like an air hose that could be used to sucking urine out of the area? Is the hole big enough to retrieve ziplock bags full of poo?

Just thinking, they have been down there for 20 days and it is probably as bad as it will get smell wise as their bodies are probably used to very low calorie digestion and not excreting much.

They will have to be brought back onto normal food gently when they get out or there will be big problems as their systems will not be able to deal with anything protein dense.

Drop down some old tetris game boys. I know there were times when it felt like I was playing that thing for 4 months straight as a kid.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

How about “Timothy” by the Buoys?

Also, I never knew that Devo covered “Working in a Coal Mine”. I only ever heard Lee Dorsey’s cover.

[hal ogen]

I was thinking just who is in the more stressful situation: those unfortunate miners who have to wait several months to be released from underground or the United States who has to wait for 28 months to released from nobama. Who is suffering more?

[BlueLancer]

Trapped in a mine that had caved in
And everyone knows the only ones left were Joe and me and Tim.
When they broke through to pull us free
The only ones left to tell the tale were Joe and me.

Timothy ... Timothy ...
Where on earth did you go?
Timothy ... Timothy ...
God, why don't I know?

Hungry as hell, no food to eat,
And Joe said that he would sell his soul for just a piece of meat.
Water enough to drink for two
And Joe said to me, "I'll take a swig, and then there's some for you."

Timothy ... Timothy ...
Joe was looking at you;
Timothy ... Timothy ...
God, what did we do?

I must have blacked out just around then
'Cause the very next thing that I could see
Was the light of the day again.
Our stomachs were full as they could be
And nobody ever got around to finding Timothy ...

Timothy ... Timothy ...
Where on earth did you go?
Timothy ... Timothy ...
God, why don't I know?

Timothy?
Timothy?

Timothy
The Buoys

[TSgt]

I saw last night on the news that the cell will be split into two sections for sanitary reasons. Live on one side and bath and go to the bathroom on the other.

[BlueLancer]

See #29 ... great minds think alike ...

[1rudeboy]

I would want an internet connection. ;)

[KarlInOhio]

or send them some dice, pencils, and paper and teach them how to play role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.

Dungeon Master: You approach a dark cave entrance.

Player: Aieieieieie! I run away screaming. No more caves, no more dungeons. The walls are closing in on me again!

[RadiationRomeo]

The hole is 6 inches in diameter.

That should allow them to get all kinds of things down to the miners. They should send some kind of sanitary thing so they don’t have to use the mine shaft for a bathroom. I still say they need the extra room for getting away from each other.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

The miners. Besides, it might not take 28 months here (we can hope).

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Sometimes weird minds think alike, too.

How about that old country classic “Dark as a Dungeon”? Or Timbuk3’s “Daddy’s Down in the Mine”?

[bmwcyle]

ping, see

[stars & stripes forever]

Actually singing is a Biblical way to become free of depression. “Put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”

[rawhide]

The miners have each lost around 22lbs (10kg) in weight but they have been warned to stay slim. They must be no more than 90cm (35 inches) around the waist to make it out of the tunnel which will be drilled through 688 metres of solid rock

I can see this now: On the day of the rescue, Jose is told he must stay another 2 months before he can come up with like the other miners. He is too fat for the hole! /s

[BlazingArizona]

One thing America’s oil industry has done for us is develop a lot of expertise in boring large straight holes. Time for some oil company to offer help to these miners and create a brazillion dollars worth of goodwill.