Chilean miners' families cheered as drilling team beats schedule

THE families of 33 trapped miners received a welcome boost yesterday, after a surge in the drilling of escape tunnels raised hopes that the men's rescue may come sooner than scheduled.

Relatives smiled, hugged and yelled "Viva Chile!" as officials reported one of the rescue drills made twice the progress than had been expected.

They promised the families that preparations for the rescue effort on the surface would be ready in less that two weeks, on 12 October, and said they are planning for the possibility the miners could be rescued nearly a month ahead of schedule.

But officials also urged caution, warning that unforeseen problems could slow the work.

A siren sounded in the camp where families have held vigil since a rock collapse blocked the mine's exit shaft 5 August. At first, no one knew what it meant, just that it was good news. Then, rescue workers came down to report that the "Plan B" drill had reached 984 feet deep, nearly halfway to its goal, after advancing 243 feet on Tuesday, more than twice as fast as expected.

At that pace, barring complications, the drill could break through to the miners in about five more days, and be reinforced with a metal sleeve even before 12 October.

"We're happy for this depth they reached. We needed just this kind of attitude," Alberto Segovia said. His brother Dario has been trapped in the gold and copper mine for 54 days.

Three drills are pounding through hard rock below the Atacama desert to reach the miners. "Plan B" is a US-made T-130, operated in consultation with a team from Somerset, Pennsylvania, invloved in the 2002 Quecreek mine disaster, where a similar tunnel was carved to pull out nine trapped coal miners.

The first rescue capsule has already arrived, but workers still need to attach it to a huge spool of steel cable. These and other tools will be ready in 15 days, Interior Ministry official Cristian Barra promised.

Mr Barra and the rescue operations chief, Andre Sougarret, stressed, however, that just because the tools will be ready doesn't mean the rescue will happen so quickly.

"We in 15 days will be prepared to be able to do the rescue at any moment. This doesn't mean it will happen in 15 days, but all the installations will be in place," Mr Barra said.

Mr Sougarret said he expects some problems when it comes to hard-rock drilling.

"We have had to pause the machines for more than four days at a time because of some problem with the drilling," he said.

"We don't completely know the eology, so I can't confirm until very sure that the rescue can happen more quickly.

"It's prudent to talk about November."