Trapped Chilean miners make video message
Men show off underground shelter
Published: 27/08/2010
THE first video has been released of the 33 men trapped deep in a Chilean copper mine.
It showed the men appearing slim but healthy, singing the national anthem and yelling “long live Chile and long live the miners”.
About five minutes of what was reportedly a 45-minute video was released by Chilean TV.
The men made the video with a small camera sent down a shaft drilled to their emergency shelter deep in the San Jose mine.
The images showed one man displaying the living room-sized shelter where they took refuge after a landslide trapped them on August 5.
Another miner showed where the men meet and pray daily and pointed out the “little cup to brush our teeth”.
“We have everything organised,” he said.
The camera was sent down through a bore-hole used for communications.
Another small hole that snakes down to the men’s shelter is used for lowering food and a third provides ventilation.