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[交流] 【Pure water】Chile awaits start of mine rescue

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has arrived at the San Jose mine as the attempted rescue of 33 trapped miners is due to get under way.

Final safety tests have been carried out on the custom-made capsule and winching system which will bring the miners up one by one.

The first man out will be Florencio Avalos, 31, officials say.

The men have been trapped since a tunnel collapse at the mine in northern Chile on 5 August.

Bolivian President Evo Morales is also expected to arrive at San Jose to greet Carlos Mamani, a Bolivian national and the only non-Chilean in the group. He is scheduled to be the third miner brought to the surface.

President Pinera has spoken to the miners over a communication line but hopes to greet them in person, says the BBC's Vanessa Buschschluter at the scene.

"I know tonight there will be tears of happiness in all Chilean homes," he told reporters at the mine.

He confirmed that the rescue would begin at about 2000 local time (2300 GMT).

It is the longest ordeal suffered by a group of miners caught underground. The effort to free them started on 17 September as the drilling of the rescue shaft began.

Correspondents say there is a sense of excitement on the surface, with the miners' families counting the hours.

Journalists have flocked to the mine from all over the world to see the freed men emerge from their two-month ordeal.

Wives and girlfriends are camped out at the site entrance.

Mining Minister Laurence Golborne told reporters at the mine that he expected the entire process to take 48 hours, and that it would take about an hour to bring each miner to the surface.

He added there were no major concerns ahead of the rescue: "We feel that we are very well prepared."

Chilean Health Minister Jaime Manalich said the miners were getting ready for the rescue, and were helping with the preparations, such as building a platform at the bottom of the shaft to help with the rescue.

"Our miners are in pretty good shape. They keep calm and they're all ready prepared to this final journey.

"They're [each] going to wear oxygen masks and also they're going to wear helmets and glasses, dark glasses to protect them from the light."

Medical attention
Each miner will wear a "bio-harness" designed for astronauts, which will monitor their heart rate, breathing, temperature and oxygen consumption.

The top of the shaft has been reinforced with metal casing to prevent crumbling surface rocks from breaking away during the rescue. Experts said the rest of the escape shaft was dug through solid rock and would not break up.

Sixteen highly trained rescuers - members of the Chilean special forces and veterans of previous underground rescues - are poised to begin the process of bringing out the miners.

The miners have already been informed about which of them will be the first out of the mine, Chilean media have reported.

The first few are thought to include some of the most psychologically stable and experienced of the miners, in case something goes wrong during the first few rescues.

Next will be those who are weakest or ill. One miner suffers from hypertension. Another is a diabetic, and others have dental and respiratory infections or skin lesions caused by the humidity in the mine.

After their rescue, the miners will be taken to a triage station. When they have been cleared by doctors there, they will be reunited with their families.

Later, they will be flown to the hospital in the nearby city of Copiapo, which is on standby to receive them.

Outside the hospital, barriers have been set up to cope with the crowds of onlookers and journalists, while the miners themselves will be brought in via a rear entrance.

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