The first of 33 trapped miners will be pulled to safety in capsules just wider than a man's shoulders on Tuesday night as a two-month ordeal deep inside a Chilean mine draws to an end. The men have spent 68 days in the hot, humid bowels of a gold and copper mine in Chile's northern Atacama desert after an August 5 collapse.
-- Men trapped for record 68 days after cave-in
-- Men will be hoisted out one at a time
They now face a claustrophobic journey to the surface in the specially-made capsules, equipped with oxygen masks and escape hatches in case they get stuck. Wives, children, parents and friends waited nervously on an arid, rocky hillside around 2,050 feet (625 meters) directly above the miners, and rescue teams planned to start hoisting the men to safety from around 6 pm (2100 GMT).
"Right now I'm calm, though still very anxious. I hope my nerves don't betray me when the rescue starts," said Jessica Salgado, whose husband Alex is trapped below. "The first thing I'm going to do is hug him hard, tell him how much I love him, and how I've missed him all this time," she added.
Rescuers on Monday successfully tested a capsule, dubbed "Phoenix" after the mythical bird that rose from the ashes, after they partially lined the narrow escape shaft with metal tubes to prevent rocks falling and causing a last-minute disaster. Engineers said the final stage of the rescue still had its risks but that the capsule was handling well in the shaft, and they expected a smooth extraction. The miners will be hoisted out one at a time in a two-day operation.
Rescuers originally found the men, miraculously all alive, 17 days after the mine's collapse with a bore hole the width of grapefruit. It then served as an umbilical cord used to pass hydration gels, water and food, as well as letters from their families and soccer videos to keep their spirits up.
The men have set a world record for the length of time workers have survived underground after a mining accident, and have been doing exercises to keep their weight down for their ascent. Medics say some of the men are psychologically fragile and may struggle with stress for a long time after their rescue. Many relatives held vigils over the past two months at a tent settlement dubbed "Camp Hope" above the mine, and more people joined as the climax neared.
Noemi Donoso, whose 43-year-old son-in-law Samuel Avalos is among the trapped, sat praying in a tent with four family members, their hands joined together to form a circle, singing hymns and chanting "hallelujah" and "glory to God." Her daughter had just left to have her hair done in a makeshift hairdressers in another of the camp's tents.
"She went to the salon to get fixed up so she can look pretty when she receives him," Donoso said, as excited school children ran around the camp with face paint on. Once the evacuations start, it will take 48 hours to extract the men. Rescuers will first be lowered to help the miners prepare to return to the surface.
Each man's journey through solid rock to safety should take about 12 to 15 minutes. They will have their eyes closed and will be given dark glasses to avoid damaging their eyesight after spending so long in a dimly lit tunnel. They will then be under observation at a nearby hospital for two days. President Sebastian Pinera, who ordered a revamp of Chile's mine safety regulations after the accident, planned to visit the mine on Tuesday afternoon. The entire nation, still recovering from a devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunamis in February, prepared to celebrate. Daniel Marin, 47, whose friends were trapped down in the mine, stood on a hilltop above the mine, waving a Chilean red, white and blue flag.