Chile Miners....The plot thickens

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One secret, it seems, is the division that plagued the group for a time. Despite the pact, there are several cracks in the official version of steadfast unity and solidarity between "los 33". The earliest suggestion of divisions came in the first video the miners sent up: only 28 featured. The other five – Juan Aguilar, Raúl Bustos, José Henriquez, Juan Illanes and Villaroel – were nowhere to be seen. Where were they? The authorities offered no explanation. José Villaroel, Richard's father, said the mechanic had been upset at colleagues who "showed off" for the camera. When relatives sent down cameras for each miner, Villaroel was among a small group who sent them back up. Another miner, Osman Araya, told his brother Rodrigo that three groups had formed and that there were squabbles over space and work practices. Daniel Sanderson, a miner on the surface, said he received a letter from one of the trapped men describing disagreements which escalated into physical confrontations. "They broke into three groups because they were fighting. There were fist fights," said Sanderson, who ended his night shift and left the mine just hours before the collapse. Asked to describe the nature of the conflicts, Sanderson, replied: "That's part of the pact". The Spanish newspaper El País reported that the five missing from the video had been working for a separate sub-contractor and had formed their own group dynamic – living apart from the others and plotting their own escape strategy involving tunnels. The division ended when the sub-contractor boss, who was on the surface, ordered the five to integrate. An early test of the "pact" will be whether the men equally share income from the interview fees, book royalties, movie rights and gifts that are likely to flood in. They have reportedly agreed to sign a legal contract promising to pool the bonanza. With some men likely to earn far more than others – notably Urzúa and Mario Sepúlveda, a natural showman – there may be temptation and pressure from families to make individual deals.

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There was no unity deep under the ground between those miners,they were haveing a war down there,split up into 3 groups,and the bbcnews quoted one of the miners as they were rescued,as saying,there were fights,it got very voilent,it starting to sound like they all went bezerk down there,and as for all standing together in book and film deals,i very much doubt it,by the sounds of things,they hate each other.

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source

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The first accounts of life for the trapped men hinted at a complicated period of squabbles, disagreements and even physical confrontations between the group during those first dark days after the San Jose mine collapsed on Aug 5,The men had "separated into three groups because of fighting. There were fist fights," one miner said.

Doctors fear that Mr Sepulveda, a natural showman nicknamed “Super Mario” after the Nintendo character, is not adjusting to life outside the mine. “I have been told that Mario Sepulveda is having psychiatric evaluation,” said Dr Jean Romagnoli, the chief medical officer at the mine.

Mario Sepulveda
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The Sunday Telegraph has been told that many of the men are in a more fragile psychological condition than at first thought. “We were witnessing some heavy psychological problems as D-Day approached, and were seriously worried about the behaviour of some of the men,” said Cdr Andreas Llarena, the navy special forces doctor in charge of medical operations at the surface. “They were increasingly stressed about that final journey up to the surface to face their families and the spotlight of attention.”
Most strikingly, Mario Sepulveda, the miner whose euphoric fist-punching reaction to his release was shown repeatedly around the world, was not discharged from hospital with the others but was moved to another clinic for further psychological tests

In letters to loved ones and asides to rescuers, the miners repeatedly described their 69-day ordeal as “hell”.

However, details are emerging of their time underground which point to the suffering and conflict that played out 2,300 feet beneath the earth. Even after rationing themselves to a couple of spoons of tuna a day, the men had run out of food and not eaten for 72 hours before rescuers made contact with them with a search drill on August 22, 17 days after the cave-in. Richard Villaroel described how they wasted away, losing an average two stone, their bodies “eating themselves”; it was only after rescuers had reached them with bore holes that they joked that they might have had to resort to actual cannibalism.

Patricio Ramos, one of the doctors who treated them after their rescue, told me. “They heard no machines, they did not know if they would ever be found. They had tried to find a way out but the routes were blocked. They were completely cut off.”

There were also rifts, rows and sometimes fist-fights between the men – particularly between the copper miners and the mechanics and engineers who just happened to be underground on August 5. At one stage, a breakaway group hatched their own plan to escape through the maze of shafts and tunnels in the corkscrewing mine network.

The men were gripped by a nauseating fear of a fresh collapse, or even an earthquake. It felt like “strong explosions”, Mr Gomez, the oldest at 63, later confided to his sister Eva. “They needed to get us out right away. They were taking too long.” At the surface, rescuers had always feared their mission could be sabotaged by a tremor or a new rock-fall inside the troubled mine. But they were able to reassure the miners that the rumbling was just the natural behaviour of a mine riddled with air cavities and rocks changing temperature. “It’s like a Swiss cheese down there,” said one.

it seems like it was pure madness down that mine,they all belived they were going to die,and most of them completely lost it.

and it seems most of them have some real mental damage from the experience.

Rescued miner number 15 Victor Segovia

Rescued miner Victor Segovia took notes that could become a manuscript about the experience. "We are going to publish a book," Ticona said. "We have an outline with 33 chapters based on the log that Victor kept. We are going to see about that later. Victor wrote every day." In an interview with local newspaper La Tercera that ran with a photograph of his tattered red notebook, Segovia said: "Writing the book was what saved my life in the mine." Parts of the notebook have been taped closed to ensure secrecy, for now. Segovia said he was so nervous at the moment of his rescue that he forgot the notebook down below and had to ask one of his companions to bring it up later.

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I had taken note of the number 33 coming up alot in this story.

Also consider that oct 13th 2010 is 10 13 10 = 33 if added up.

Very strange.

I am sure we will never know the "real story", because we were not there.

No matter what went on down in the mine, just to be able to stay alive, and in what seems like very good physical condition, is a miracle to me.

They are all heroes, along with all the rescuers.

I don't feel many would voluntere to go down in the capsule to help in the rescue.

The rescuers deserve honors, also.

By the way, the photograph is of Mr. Urzua, not Mario Sepulveda.

here's another snippet of the mood down in that collasped mine,from the cnn just in news webpage

Villaroel, 27, had been employed two years as a mechanic at the San Jose gold and copper mine in northern Chile. But he never told his mother he was working a half mile under the Earth's surface. That early August day, everything began shaking. Everything collapsed. "The mountains and the roof of the tunnel and everything shook," Villaroel says. "The mountain began to break up and we couldn't see anything, maybe 1 or 2 meters. We drove off in a truck but we crashed it because we couldn't see anything." Luis Urzua, the shift foreman, gave his men the bad news straight. They had a chance at survival but it was more likely that they would never see daylight again. "We had a boss who every day said we must stay strong," Villaroel says. "If they find us, they find us. And if not, not." The men huddled in an area no larger than 165 square feet. Several, especially the younger, inexperienced minders, threw themselves on the ground. They wouldn't get up. "I realized several companions were in a bad way. Several didn't get up after that first day," Urzua says from his hospital bed.

Originally posted by Happyfeet
I had taken note of the number 33 coming up alot in this story.

Also consider that oct 13th 2010 is 10 13 10 = 33 if added up.

Very strange.

I wonder what happened to miner # 34?

www.bbc.co.uk...

Perhaps they ate more than two days worth of rations. Soylent green helper?