MINE DISASTER- CHILE: TRAPPED MINERS

Aug 24, 2010, STRAITS TIMES


Trapped miners alive after two weeks

But it could be months before the 33 Chilean miners are rescued
President Pinera holding up a plastic bag containing a message from the trapped miners on Sunday in Copiapo. It reads in Spanish: 'We are okay in the refuge, the 33 miners.' The men were found about 7km inside the winding mine after a drill broke through 688m of solid rock.

VOCABULARY CLOZE

SANTIAGO: Chileans were 1. _____________ after receiving word that 33 miners trapped deep below ground for more than two weeks were alive and apparently in good 2. _____________, though experts warned that it could still be three to four months before they are rescued.

The first black and white images of some of the 33 men were shown late on Sunday after rescuers made their first 3 . _________ with them since a tunnel collapse on Aug 5 at the San Jose copper and gold mine.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, who was at the 4. ________ of the disaster, read out one of the two notes sent up by the 5. _______ miners that said: 'We are okay in the refuge, the 33 miners,' as people around him rejoiced.

'The whole of Chile is crying with joy and 6. _______,' he remarked.

The trapped men were found about 7km inside the 7. ________ mine after a narrow drill broke through 688m of solid rock to reach an emergency refuge where they had gathered.

The notes were found tied to the 8. ________.

A remotely operated camera lowered down the 9. ________ hole later showed the miners sweaty and shirtless in the hot shelter, but in apparently good condition and high 10. _______.

'Many of them approached the camera and put their faces right 11. ______against it, like children, and we could see happiness and hope in their eyes,' said Mr Pinera as he vowed a major overhaul of the mining regulator.

Officials said the miners are located in a space about the size of a small apartment and had 12. _______ amounts of food but more would be passed to them 13. _______ the drill hole.

Tanks of water and 14. _______ shafts are helping them survive, they said, adding that the miners used the batteries of a truck down in the mine to charge their helmet lamps. The miners may have lost about 8kg to 9kg each, they said.

National Emergency Office regional director Carlos Garcia said relatives would soon be allowed to speak with them through a cable dropped down the drill bore.

Chief engineer Andres Sougarret, who is in charge of the rescue operation, said it would take at least 120 days or until around Christmas to drill a shaft large enough to bring out the trapped miners.

Rescuers said the miners would have to assist in their own release by clearing 15. _________ away from the hole beneath ground as drillers worked from above.

'They'll come out thin and dirty, but whole and strong, because the miners have shown they have courage and 16. _______, which is what has kept them together,' Mr Pinera said, choking with emotion.

'God is great,' 63-year-old Mario Gomez, the oldest of the trapped miners, wrote in the second note found attached to the drill.

'I hope to get out soon. Have 17. _______ and faith,' he said in the note addressed to his wife.

The men already have been trapped underground longer than all but a few miners rescued in recent history.

ANSWERS: VOCABULARY- 1.euphoric 2. condition 3. contact 4. site 5. trapped

6. emotion 7. winding 8. drill 9. bore 10. spirits 11. up 12. limited

13. through 14. ventilation 15. debris 16. mettle 17. patience