Final phase nears for Chile mine rescue bid

• View of the crane that will be used to hoist the rescue capsule at the San Jose mine. Pic: AFP/Getty

The specially designed bullet-shaped cage was lowered almost the entire length of the escape shaft without a hitch, mining minister Laurence Golborne said yesterday.

The evacuations were due to start at midnight local time today (4am UK time). Four rescuers will be lowered to help the miners prepare to return to the surface from the darkness of the tunnel they have been trapped in since the 5 August collapse at the gold and copper mine half a mile under the Atacama desert.

"We're so happy we're going to see our son," said Doris Contreras, whose son Pedro Cortez will be one of the last to be pulled up because he is the communications expert. "It doesn't matter if he's one of the last. We just want him to come out."

Rescue workers finished reinforcing the escape shaft yesterday. Engineers decided to line only part of the narrow, nearly 2,050ft-long shaft with metal tubes, aiming to avoid any last-minute disaster.

Rescuers also installed the tubes to head off the risk of rocks breaking off the walls of the drill shaft and blocking the exit of the capsule, dubbed the Phoenix.

"The results of the tests have been very promising, very positive, the capsule handles well inside the duct and adapts well both inside the metal tubes and the rock," Mr Golborne said.

Rescue officials said they would push ahead on boring a separate shaft with a rig usually used to drill for oil in case there are any complications. They have halted a third drill.

In a country still recovering from a devastating February earthquake, celebrations broke out across Chile when the drill boring the escape shaft reached the miners on Saturday.

More relatives of the miners arrived at the settlement known as "Camp Hope" near the mine entrance yesterday morning as they count down the hours amid growing anticipation.

"I'm so tired. It's been far too many days doing nothing, just sitting waiting," said Alicia Campos, whose son Daniel Herrera is among the trapped miners.

After weeks of prayers, vigils and agonising waiting, anxiety is giving way to joy as wives, parents and children count down to reunions with their loved ones.

The men, who have set a world record for the length of time workers have survived underground after a mining accident, have been doing exercises to keep their weight down for their ascent.

They will journey to the surface in capsules just wider than a man's shoulders with their eyes closed and will immediately be given dark glasses to avoid damaging their eyesight after spending so long in a dimly lit tunnel.

They will be given medical checks in a field hospital set up at the mine.Then they will be able to spend some time with their families, before being flown by helicopter to nearby Copiapo to another hospital.

The miners are in remarkably good health, although some have developed skin infections.

Health minister Jaime Manalich said four rescuers, including a paramedic, would travel down in the capsules to help prepare the men for their journey.

He said the government had chosen the most psychologically stable and experienced of the miners to be the first to enter the capsules and face the claustrophobic journey.