Rescue teams ruled out Monday the use of explosives to blow up a portion of the mine in northern Chile where 33 workers have been trapped for over a month, according to dpa. "It would be very risky," said engineer Rene Aguilar, of Chilean copper giant Codelco. Codelco would have had to carry out the blasts to open up an escape route for the miners. "The mine is closed. It is an unfeasible option that risks the lives of everyone at the San Jose mine," Aguilar stressed. The miners have been trapped 700 metres below the earth's surface since the shaft they were working on under the Atacama Desert collapsed on August 5. Contact was only re-established with them 17 days later. The idea of using a controlled explosion to open a tunnel came up in the face of delays in the work of three drills that are making tunnels to reach the workers more traditionally. "I sent an email to the mining minister (Laurence Golborne), to request permission for this plan," engineer Miguel Fortt said Monday of the blasts. The so-called Plan D, which required prior studies on the geological stability of the mine, came up after relatives of the trapped miners complained of the slow rescue. Using the three drills, each with a different system, the miners could only be rescued in November at the earliest. Amid the debate, psychologists supporting the rescue said the miners would probably take part from the depths in celebrations of the bicentennial of Chile's independence on Saturday. So far, rescue teams are using small tunnels with a diameter of about 10 centimetres to provide the miners with food, water and other essentials as well as to communicate with them. They now have telephone, power and television lines through these ducts. Once a suitably-sized tunnel is built, with a diameter of 60-70 centimetres, the miners are set to be lifted up to the surface one by one in a module containing oxygen, water, food and an intercom system. The module will take between half an hour and an hour to reach the surface, and the miners will need to be blindfolded to avoid hurting their eyes.
