It's 0215 on Wednesday morning, or 22:15 in Chile and I have been watching a BBC special from the mine in Chile. It was hoped earlier that the rescue would have started by now but the rescue capsule has been lowered into the shaft twice now but has returned to the surface and minor adjustment have been made. Some of those adjustments have been made with what is known as impact technology; that is, with a hammer. I don't expect the problem to be serious but it is causing a delay. I had hoped to stay up until the first miner was brought up but all that is happening is the two reporters are wandering around the site filling in time.
It's now 02:30 and I have decided to wait until 03:00 to see if anything happens. The capsule has gone down again on a test run but without any news from the crew working round the shaft. The capsule didn't have a medic in so it is an other test run.
Now 02:45 and the capsule is still going down, hang on, it's stopped. Now it's going again.
02:58, the capsule is coming up, I'm going to wait for a while and see if anything happens other than talk.
03:04 The reporter has just said that the next time the capsule goes down it will contain a medic which will signal the start of the final stage of the rescue. The capsule has just emerged. The medic is getting in and has got out again and the oxygen tanks are being changed. Now more adjustments and at 03:16 he has got in again, no he's out and more work with a spanner.
03:19 The capsule has started down, in half an hour it should return with a miner. I'll wait up, it's not as if I need to get up early in the morning.
03:30 The capsule, we are now told, doesn't contain a medic but a mining expert who is inspecting the shaft. He will return to the surface once that inspection is complete before a medic will go down and the first miner will be brought up, hopefully in half an hour.
03:36 Pictures from inside the mine. The capsule has arrived and the miners are greeting the capsule's passenger.
03:55 The capsule has started up with not the mining expert but the first of the miners. We can now see the top of the shaft with the winch wheel turning pulling Florencio Avalos to the surface and a life that will proably not include going down a mine again.
04:10 Capsule has reached the surface.
04:20 The capsule is now going down again with a paramedic and I am going to bed.
1 comment:
Two miners rescued so far.The first bit of good news for a long time. Fingers crossed for the safe return of all involved:- miners and resuers.
Post a Comment