I've been watching this develop for some time and am impressed with the cool, yet dedicated way the team have put together every aspect of the rescue plan. We hardly ever hear anything of Chile, so this is a welcome tribute to the country and it's people.

Speaking as someone who suffers from mild claustrophobia, I'm amazed that they (the trapped miners) have done so well, and coped with the conditions.

Good Luck with tonight's rescue ..... my hopes for a successful conclusion are with you.

I agree with you ITK; it's one of my favourite stories of the year and my fingers are firmly crossed for a positive outcome; we are watching the best of human skills and hopes and abilities and we can only hope for a great result (apart from the media, of course, which would prefer a tragedy).

And a question - why do the Chilean police dress like the Gestapo?

Watching the slow but (so far) successful extraction makes me proud to be a human (for the first time in a long time).

Chilean Miners rescued? Must have blinked and missed the news coverage!

(A great story, but come on BBC Breakfast TV, there are other stories!)

desperate to get out of the flat for an appointment but had to wait to see the first miner appear.

Watching the Chilean Presidnet in such good humour and then the little son of the first out break down in tears as the capsule appeared was rivetting TV.

Some stories do make you feel so good.

A great story, although two things niggle:
1. The news channels just cannot cope with simplicity. They had an 'expert' on yesterday, for example, and asked her what the miners might be thinking. The expert furrowed her brow as if pondering some puzzle from Heidegger, then announced: 'I think they will almost certainly be thinking: "Get me out of here"'. She was then thanked profusely for her insight. News channels also never seem to know how to 'finish' these stories and go away. It's never neat and timely, it's always a case of them hanging around like some lonely character at a party that's long-since emptied. They'll probably still be there at the weekend, pointing down the hole.

2. You can almost hear the Hollywood writers scrabbling to make this into a movie. But probably relocated to somewhere like Idaho, with Tom Hanks and Bruce Willis in the lead roles.

dixie wrote:
but come on BBC Breakfast TV, there are other stories!

None so heartwarming, though !

The BBC Breakfast team even made comment this morning that it was good to have such a 'positive' story to lead the news.

As one wag said: 'Miners and Scousers celebrating on the same day - has something happened to Thatcher?'

Prunella Minge wrote:
has something happened to Thatcher?'

Yes - it's her 85th birthday today !

In The Know wrote:
Prunella Minge wrote:
has something happened to Thatcher?'

Yes - it's her 85th birthday today !

It's still a good day.

Actually, with those sunglasses, it looks like a Ray Charles Fan Club Potholing Day Out that went badly wrong. The news coverage is really getting a bit, well, 'much'.

Yes - the coverage is expectedly ridiculous (our media is getting less and less creative and inventive and relies more and more on automatic pilot) but I've loved this story - totally positive and a wonderful view of the best of human nature - modern technology, global support, successful effort, happy and relieved people - God, we need more of this and less of the tragedies of our species.

JK2006 wrote:
Yes - the coverage is expectedly ridiculous (our media is getting less and less creative and inventive and relies more and more on automatic pilot) but I've loved this story - totally positive and a wonderful view of the best of human nature - modern technology, global support, successful effort, happy and relieved people - God, we need more of this and less of the tragedies of our species.

Agree with all of the above.

How uplifting.

Our media have been rather confused - having a goog-news story to report on.

Can someone please tell me... where did they poo?

JK2006 wrote:
Can someone please tell me... where did they poo?

Apparently, they had almost a kilometre of underground tunnels, JK - so somewhere in a dark corner ?

What puzzled me was how clean and fresh they all looked when they appeared - so maybe they had a bathroom down there too - which would also answer your question.

As they were down in the mines working all day, on long shifts, facilities for pooing, washing and taking refreshment must have been laid-on. How it all coped for 60+ days is another question. (I know they got food/drink to them, but I'm sure they didn't use the same pipe to remove the unmentionable!

dixie wrote:
As they were down in the mines working all day, on long shifts, facilities for pooing, washing and taking refreshment must have been laid-on. How it all coped for 60+ days is another question. (I know they got food/drink to them, but I'm sure they didn't use the same pipe to remove the unmentionable!

Oh we will hear all about their toiletry arrangements when the book and film deal are done but good for them and how heartwarming to see they formed a syndicate to share equally !!(ITK-please take note !)

predictably the media now surf9ing the story along with headlines like "cracks begin to appear"...as it seems they might have squabbled down there over 60 days oh heat and gloom.

Not like a news room in a newspaper of course where all is love and light

veritas wrote:
how heartwarming to see they formed a syndicate to share equally !!(ITK-please take note !)

What is that supposed to mean ?

In The Know wrote:
veritas wrote:
how heartwarming to see they formed a syndicate to share equally !!(ITK-please take note !)

What is that supposed to mean ?

a nice form of socialism...you really do need to go to one of those Re-Education Camps that we will be setting up in all constituencies that voted for Tory candidates