Bedraggled men appear in good spirits in 45-minute video sent to the surface.
Emotional Trapped Chilean Miners Need Our Prayers
Miners trapped in a collapsed Chilean copper and gold mine have sent a video to the surface that documents their life underground and shows them in relatively good spirits.
The video, released late on Thursday on Television Nacional de Chile, shows the shirtless men sitting and standing, most of them with puffiness under their eyes and thick, ungroomed facial hair.
The 33 miners have been trapped for three weeks,and the video shows the makeshift life they have arranged for themselves 700 metres below ground.
"We've organized everything really well down here," one of the miners said, pointing to a corner reserved for medical supplies.
"This is where we entertain ourselves, where we have a meeting every day, where we make plans. This is where we pray."
Family members who have set up camp outside the mine shaft watched the video on cell phones and a screen erected by the government.
The video showed around a dozen miners at times waving and laughing, and at one point arm-in-arm, singing Chile's national anthem and chanting "Long live Chile, and long live the miners".
One miner sent greetings to his relatives. "I'd like to say hello to my grandchildren and all my family. Stay together," he said.
The miners have been told they may be stuck underground for months before rescuers can free them.
The government has warned the miners may begin to suffer from depression [AFP] Officials on Wednesday said it could take up to four months before the men can be freed and that, until then, they will get oxygen, food, water and medical supplies through three thin, newly drilled tunnels.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas...
The video, released late on Thursday on Television Nacional de Chile, shows the shirtless men sitting and standing, most of them with puffiness under their eyes and thick, ungroomed facial hair.
The 33 miners have been trapped for three weeks,and the video shows the makeshift life they have arranged for themselves 700 metres below ground.
"We've organized everything really well down here," one of the miners said, pointing to a corner reserved for medical supplies.
"This is where we entertain ourselves, where we have a meeting every day, where we make plans. This is where we pray."
Family members who have set up camp outside the mine shaft watched the video on cell phones and a screen erected by the government.
The video showed around a dozen miners at times waving and laughing, and at one point arm-in-arm, singing Chile's national anthem and chanting "Long live Chile, and long live the miners".
One miner sent greetings to his relatives. "I'd like to say hello to my grandchildren and all my family. Stay together," he said.
The miners have been told they may be stuck underground for months before rescuers can free them.
The government has warned the miners may begin to suffer from depression [AFP] Officials on Wednesday said it could take up to four months before the men can be freed and that, until then, they will get oxygen, food, water and medical supplies through three thin, newly drilled tunnels.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas...
