Drilling work began on a third tunnel designed to extricate 33 miners who have been trapped in a collapsed Chilean copper and gold mine for more than a month, reported Chilean President Sebastian Pinera Sunday. "We don't know which of the three drills will be the first to finish, but we know one thing: that they will have success with God's help," dpa quoted Pinera as sayinig during a ceremony celebrating the 200th anniversary of Chile's independence from Spain. The third drill brought in for the rescue efforts is usually used to drill for oil. The miners have been trapped at a depth of 700 metres since August 5. The miners are receiving vital supplies via a tube, and still managed to celebrate the anniversary below ground. They have also managed to have video contact with loved ones on the surface. One drill has reached the level where the miners are trapped. Work, expected to take weeks, must now begin to widen the hole to 70 centimetres so that the miners may crawl up to the surface. Officials are optimistic that the rescue work may move faster than originally predicted. First feared dead, initial forecasts upon the discovery that they were alive had said the men would not be freed until late December, just before the Christmas holiday.
