Sirens and bells rang out across the Chilean desert at around 8 a.m. local time today, signaling that one of three drills safely penetrated an underground pocket where the miners have survived for the past 66 days. Cheers went up through crowds at "Camp Hope," a cluster of tents and kiosks where relatives have kept a vigil for their loved ones. Children lit candles for hope, and women applied makeup ahead of tearful reunions.
Ecstatic well-wishers sprinted up to the crest of a misty hill where 33 flags have flown as symbols of hope for the miners' rescue.
"God be willing, in a few days the whole country will be weeping with joy... when we see these miners emerge from the depths of the mountain to embrace their wives, children, mothers and fathers," said President Sebastian Pinera, according to Agence-France Presse.
But the hardest part may well be ahead. Officials now must decide whether to line the rocky rescue shaft with a heavy steel casing, or try to pull the miners up through the narrow passageway one-by-one without reinforcing it first. Both options have pitfalls. The steel pipe would shield the miners from falling rocks, but inserting the heavy apparatus itself is risky, and could potentially cause a collapse or get jammed in the rescue hole.
"You would have to put though a 600-meter hole a lot of pipes that weigh more than 150 tons," Golborne warned, according to The Associated Press. "And this structure can be set in a position that also could block the movement of the Phoenix (escape capsule). It's not an easy decision to make."
Engineers will make that decision after they feed a video camera down the rescue hole to examine how steadfast its sides are. If they decide not to install the steel casing, rescuers could begin hauling up the miners on Tuesday. But if the steel pipe is needed, it would put off the actual rescue for another three to eight more days.
Relatives of the miners say they've waited so long for this moment, they're willing to wait a bit longer to make sure the rescue is safe. Most seemed to be in favor of using the steel pipe.
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"I prefer a thousand times that the process drags on two more days than to not line the hole," María Cortez, the sister-in-law of Mario Gómez, the oldest of the trapped miners, told The New York Times. Meanwhile, deep underground the 33 miners have divided themselves into three groups. The strongest will be hauled out first in case they need to go back down the mine shaft to help rescue others. Then the weakest will emerge, followed by the others.
The miners have already survived longer undergound than anyone in history. Still, the ordeal has taken its toll on their health.
The men "have shown signs of anxiety as was to be expected. Others have had higher than desirable increases in blood pressure," said Health Minister Jaime Manalich, according to AFP.
Officials caution that the rescue is now entering its most dangerous phase. The miners themselves may have to use dynamite to help widen the rescue shaft so that the Phoenix capsule can pass through. Engineers said they're taking all safety precautions.
"We have done everything that technology permits," Miguel Fortt, a consultant on underground mining rescues in Chile's Atacama region, told the Times. "If the Lord doesn't send us an earthquake, we'll be O.K."