Friday, October 15, 2010

Happy ending in Chiliean mine rescue

HUGO INFANTE/GOVERNMENT OF CHILE

HUGO INFANTE/GOVERNMENT OF CHIL
Watching news reports of the successful rescue of the 33 miners who had been trapped in a Chilean mine for more than two months I can't help but compare it to the bungled rescue efforts of a bus hijacking in the Philippines in August that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead. One can't help but feel for the families of the victims in these incidences; it is only human. I felt sad for the families of the Hong Kong tourists killed in the Philippines hijack The Chilean amazing rescue was really something to cheer about, when under pretty difficult conditions both the miners and their rescuers prevailed.

Timeline/Facts
  • August 5 Mine collapsed
  • August 22 a narrow drill breaks through 2,257 feet (688 meters) of solid rock to reach an emergency refuge where the miners had gathered. 
  • August 23 Preliminary estimate it will take 4 months to carve a tunnel wide enough to pull them out. 
  • Oct. 9 Sixty-six days after the mine collapse, a drill breaks through to their emergency refuge.
  • Oct. 13 The effort to bring the trapped men out of the mine one-by-one begins.
  • Escape shaft : 2041ft
  • Escape Capsule : Named FENIX 2, 5.1/4ft Height x Slightly less than 23" wide. 
  • Though the journey up the shaft was originally estimated to take half an hour, it took only 16 minutes for miners to be pulled up the shaft, with the final ascents lasting only around nine.  
  • Rescue time: 22 hours 
  • 14 October Rescue ended : 3:35 GMT Thursday,

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