COPIAPO, Chile — Just 35 inches around the waist — that’s how skinny Chile’s 33 trapped miners have been told they need to be to squeeze through the escape tunnel, the health minister said Wednesday.
Dr. Jaime Manalich said rescuers are working to support the miners’ during the months it may take to carve out a tunnel, including exercise and activities to keep them from gaining weight.
“We’re working to determine a secure area where the miners can manage things. The space they’re in actually has about two kilometers of galleries to walk around in,” he said. “We hope to define a secure area where they can establish various places — one for resting and sleeping, one for diversion, one for food, another for work.”
Establishing a daily and nightly routine is important, the minister said, adding that having fun also will be critical. The rescue team is creating an entertainment program “that includes singing, games of movement, playing cards. We want them to record songs, to make videos, to create works of theater for the family.”
What the team doesn’t want them to know is that they may be stuck below for up to four months. While the miners have a general idea that their rescue will take time, they haven’t been given the details, Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter said Wednesday.
“I hope that nobody commits the imprudence of telling them something like this.”
The escape tunnel will be about 26 inches wide — the diameter of a typical bike tire — and stretch for more than 2,200 feet through solid rock. Rescuers also have to account for the space of the basket that will be used to pull the miners to safety, leaving little margin for error.
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