Trapped Miners

**crashdive123** · 08-25-2010, 07:27 PM

Looks like they'll be trapped for about four months before the rescue can be affected. Some of the miners are currently too large to fit through the rescue chamber that is being drilled. So far they have lost an average of 20 lbs each, and they've been trapped for two weeks. Now that they can get supplies they have to exercise to maintain their weight in order to fit through the rescue chamber.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100822/..._mine_accident

Not to make light of the situation, but kind of like a submarine patrol.

**Rick** · 08-25-2010, 07:32 PM

For anyone that has been underground (Crash will qualify here) when you turn the light off it is dark. Not just dark but unbelievably dark. There is no peripheral light of any type from any source. You can not see your hand in front of your face. If you think you have irrational fears in the woods. Try dealing with those fears in absolute, total darkness. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, for you mind to grasp for distance, time or space.

A miner's lamp puts out quite a bit of light and it can be adjusted to some extent. I assume theirs can, too. But it would be little comfort to only have one or two of those lights for the next two months. That would be tough and I'll bet some of them don't cope well at all.

**BENESSE** · 08-25-2010, 07:37 PM

If they're able to get supplies, couldn't they get some lights?
4 months is an eternity to endure in such conditions. If they pull through, there'll be a lot of learning to come out of their experience.

**crashdive123** · 08-25-2010, 07:37 PM

I think that they are able to get them supplies now. The opening isn't real big, but some things that have been requested are a deck of cards and a Bible. Air, water and food are being supplied so I imagine they are able to get them lights as well.

**Batch** · 08-25-2010, 08:08 PM

That would be tough and I'll bet some of them don't cope well at all.

I am mildly claustrophobic. I have had to work in extremely close confined spaces and usually manage my phobias pretty well.

But, I have gotten my head wedged in where I couldn't go forward and I was certain I was going to rip my ear off trying to get back out. Panic rises hard and you have to use hard logic to run through it.

I took some medicine that caused panic attacks and I woke up in my tent feeling like I could not breathe. Once I got out of my tent and had the star light to go by I was able to calm myself. Really so much worse than the pain the medicine was prescribed to control.

I decided I would deal with the pain rather than that crap.

These guys must be experiencing something on so many levels higher. Knowing you are going to be underground trapped for 120 days. A third of a year. I feel for them...

**crashdive123** · 08-25-2010, 09:14 PM

I doubt, because of the nature of their work that there is much of an issue with claustriphobia. In Submarine School there were two very early tests that weeded out about half of the class very early. One was a confined pressure chamber and the other was an escape chamber. I must be weird - I thought both were kind of fun.

**Justin Case** · 08-25-2010, 09:30 PM

This is scary,, I would be freaking out !!!! I think I heard there are 30+ people trapped down there ? I wonder where they go to the bathroom ? YIKES ! (I thought about this because one of the requests was for beer)

**sthrnstrong** · 08-25-2010, 09:37 PM

They talked about them the other day on the radio. They are able to get supplies like water, batteries, hygiene supplies, food. There are 33 trapped last I heard and they have designated a corner for restroom stops but are also using 5 gallon bucks that are lowered with supplies. They said that they should be safely home around Christmas. Like said that's what we are hearing here on the radio.

**Winnie** · 08-26-2010, 03:45 AM

What really amazed me was when the probe originally went down, the trapped miners attached a note to it saying "we're still alive" those above ground weren't entirely sure until that moment. Boggles the mind.

**Born2Late** · 08-26-2010, 05:20 AM

I've been underground in a coal mine a few times.It is so dark you can taste it.You feel disorientated and offbalance.The air smells funny and there is water and mud every where.The earth is alive.You can laugh at me but you hear the earth when you are underground.The coal mines are not that deep,we went 95m down.Some of the goldmines in Johannesburg go down 3000m.Miners are a special breed.I heard on the news that one of our companies Murray and Roberts are sending their proto teams to help them.

**nell67** · 08-26-2010, 05:49 AM

After hearing of other mine collapses around the world,I wonder what they did differently in this mine,that allowed such a large (?) area uncollapsed where the miners are.

I hope that there were no miners in the areas that did collapse.

Good luck to them.

**skully** · 08-26-2010, 07:10 AM

Remember they say 4 months MINIMAL! There was a similar case in the australian beaconsfield mines it occured on the 25th april 2006 in tasmania, of the 17 that where in the mine at the time of the collapse 14 escaped immediately one was killed and the remaining 2 where found after five days, using a remote controlled device. they where eventualy rescued 2 weeks later after bieng trapped nearly a kilometre underground.

**Alec_end** · 08-31-2010, 03:46 AM

Yer that was all over the news down here when it happened. I think that the circumstances wern't as extreme though as they had enough food and a lot of water with them. When they do get these miners out i think it would be very intresting to see how they see life now and what has been gonig through theur minds.