Chile miners stuck for 1 month now

The second option involves a football-pitch-size oil drilling platform, which Pinera said was expected to begin work on a third shaft by September 18 — Chile's Independence Day.

The ambitious rescue task, code-named “Operation San Lorenzo” after a martyred Christian saint, has received help from the U.S. space agency NASA, with its experience in keeping astronauts healthy and sane during long periods in small spaceships.

The only other miners to have spent almost as long trapped underground were three Chinese men rescued in July last year after spending 25 days in a flooded shaft, chewing on coal and surrounded by their 13 dead colleagues.

The Chilean miners' story has inspired songs and is already being turned into a movie, despite criticism that such a project is exploitative.

The men themselves, though still trapped in dank, difficult conditions, have learned of their new-found fame. They have spoken to President Pinera and received soccer jerseys signed by the national team; an eccentric mining magnate has even pledged 10,000 U.S. dollars for each of them.

On Saturday, the mining region was visited by four of the 16 survivors of a 1972 Andes plane crash, who endured extreme elements for 72 days before being rescued.

Their improbable story was turned into a best-selling book, “Alive,” and then a 1993 movie.

The four Uruguayan men said they had brought a message of hope for the trapped men.

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