Chile's Phoenix capsule delivering miners to safety
Grab image taken from a video released by the Mining Ministry showing rescuers testing a capsule before attempting the rescue of the 33 miners trapped at the San Jose mine near the city of Copiapo, 800 km north of Santiago on October 11, 2010. After a record two months trapped underground in a collapsed mine, the miners appear to be just days from a miraculous rescue. AFP PHOTO
Painted in Chile's national colors of white, blue and red, the rescue capsule dubbed "Phoenix" is a specially designed steel cage, which holds the key to giving the miners new life.
Resembling a long, four-meter (13-foot) metallic cigar, the cage was built for the rescue operation at the Chilean Navy's construction site.
The cylindrical steel cage is only 53 centimeters (21 inches) in diameter, just wide enough for a man's shoulders to fit inside as the miners are hoisted to the surface up a 622 meter (2,041 feet) shaft.
Engineers see the rescue capsule as carrying the miners upwards to a new life, much like the phoenix of ancient mythology constantly rose from the ashes to be born again.
"We called it Phoenix because it will be like a rebirth, a new life for the miners," Mining Minister Laurence Golborne told reporters last month, before entering the cage to explain how it would work.
An Austrian-made hoisting system of pulleys and cranes will bring the cage slowly up the rescue shaft.
The upper white section of the cylinder can be detached using three levers, which the miner can activate from inside the cage. Should the miner hit a snag during the ascent, he will be able to lower himself slowly back down to the shelter, with the help of wheels on the sides of the shaft.
Equipped with a helmet and gloves, each miner will also have water reserves, food, oxygen and a constant line of communication with rescue workers. Medical experts will monitor each man's heart rate and breathing constantly.
Each miner will be slowly brought to the surface individually. The tense ascent had been expected to take around 15-20 minutes at a time, as the cage climbs 622 meters -- nearly the height of two Eiffel Towers stacked on top of each other.
With another 25-30 minutes needed to drop the cage down the shaft again, and a little time required to strap each miner into the contraption, a total of one hour was estimated for each man's salvation.
Officials expected to have the last of the miners out by late Thursday.
