Chilean miners: Simple pleasures of cigarettes and alcohol banned below ground

Already deprived of sunlight, fresh air and their loved ones, Nasa doctors have said the trapped miners must continue to forego two other pleasures: alcohol and cigarettes.

Health officials have sent them high-protein, high-calorie foods in narrow plastic tubes to help them build up their strength after losing an estimated 22lb each.

Booze will have to wait.

"From the alcohol standpoint, we need to first get their nutrition up before we make any considerations there," said James Michael Duncan, NASA's deputy chief doctor, who flew with a team of medical experts to Chile to help advise the government on one of the world's most challenging rescue bids.

Some of the men have also asked for cigarettes, and health officials have sent them nicotine patches and gum.