Antibiotics for weak but defiant miners
Wednesday 08 September 2010
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EmailChilean rescuers have sent down antibiotics and ointments and have been working to blast cool, dry air to 33 miners who have been trapped a half-mile underground for more than a month.
All the men have suffered from skin sores, foot fungi or abrasions, and infections could prove dangerous in the sweltering heat and humidity, with rescue at least six weeks away.
It's unclear how long the miners will be stuck underground.
The Chilean government has said it could take until December to drill a hole big enough to pull them out, while other experts have said it could be as soon as late October.
Two massive mining drills are being used - one widening one of the existing bore holes and the other forging a new opening - and the government plans to use a third drill to widen one of the other bore holes.
Work is going slowly because each time a geological fault is exposed groundwater is released and the walls need to be shored up with concrete.
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