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Chile turning to high-tech to aid trappedminers


RESCUE MAY TAKE 90 DAYS


Lemon-size supply tube challenges NASA, others BY JONATHAN FRANKLIN


copiapo, chile—As 33Chilean miners entered their fourthweek trapped in a collapsed mine, experts from around the world gathered on this remote hillside to attempt what all consider a historic rescue operation. With video footage showing


themen in relatively good health, much of the focus has shifted to logistics andmental healthwhile an Australian-built drilling rig slowly rips open an escape tun- nel, an effort now expected to take 90 days. “They are a tremendously co-


hesive group. . . . There is a positive and powerful leader, which makes the group more organized,” said Rodrigo Figueroa, head of the Stress and Disaster Unit at Catholic Univer- sity in Santiago. “As miners, they are disciplined and prepared for this kind of emergency, and prep- aration is fundamental.” The logistics of first designing


and then sending a world of supplies down more than 2,200 feet through a hole not much bigger than a lemon has chal- lenged the Chilean engineers and their counterparts from around the world, including NASA scien- tists and submarine command- ers. “That’s the size of the tube by


which we can supply them,” said Chilean Health Minister Jaime Manalich as he formed a small circle with his hands. “Every- thing we develop must be this size or smaller.” Manalich described a labora- tory of inventors behind the


scenes who are designing every- thing, including collapsible cots and miniature sandwiches for lunch. A tiny camera lowered to the


depths of the mine produced a dramatic video that showed the stark contrast between themen’s cavernous living quarters — a mile-long stretch of mine tun- nels, filled with vehicles and cavelike crevices—and the near- ly impossible task of providing them with anything more than themost basic supplies. “Iwould compare this toNASA


when they did experiments with extreme isolated conditions in which they don’t supply medi- cine or food to this crew to find out what happens in the future. . . . That iswhywe askedNASA to come down. NASA seems very confident thatwhat is happening here is very similar to their experiments,”Manalich said. Figueroa, who was asked by


the government to advise rescue operations, said he had never experienced a similar situation. “You canmake analogies. You see this kind of stress in space mis- sions, in sunken submarines, people who are trapped in Ant- arctica and people who are stuck behind enemy lines,” he said. Theminers’ immediate surviv-


al is in little doubt as they began receiving solid food this week and are continually delivered water. They are also receiving handwrittenmessages fromtheir families via a tube that carries pods known as “palomas,” or doves. A second tube for enriched


oxygen and a third for video conferences are complete, mean- ing families will soon be able to hold daily video chats with their trapped loved ones. Dominoes and board gameswere sent down to stave off monotony, and an evangelical priest arrived with tiny Bibles he said were specially designed to fit inside the doves. Custom-built


fluorescent tubes will be set on timers to


EZ SU


KLMNO THE WORLD


SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 2010


IVAN ALVARADO/REUTERS Relatives watch a video of miners trapped underground in a copper and gold mine. The footage showed the men in relatively good health.


create a sense of day and night, an attempt to keep the men on a somewhat normal schedule. “We must keep close track of


their health,” saidManalich, add- ing that his teamis preparing for any of a host ofmedical emergen- cies. “How do you treat appendi- citiswithout surgery?Our staff is scouring the old medical texts to find ways these kind of condi- tions can be treated without intervention, only using painkill- ers and other remedies.” To limit such emergencies, the


Chilean government has named Johny Berrios, a miner with a hobbyist’s passion for reading medical literature, as the desig- nated camp doctor. Berrios has been assigned to


take urine and blood samples, which will be carefully placed in the tiny tubes and sent up to ground level, where a makeshift lab has been built to analyze and monitor the health of eachminer. Miners with skin ailments or lesions will be asked to parade their ills before the video camera,


REUTERS


Family members react to news that the 33 miners were found alive. The men are in a cavernous area more than 2,200 feet underground.


allowing a remote team of doc- tors to diagnose the problemand design a solution that fits inside the dove. Manalich said five of the min-


Carter, freedN.Korea prisoner reachU.S. 6


Former president unable to meet with reclusive leader


BY CHICO HARLAN


tokyo — The release Friday of a U.S. citizen imprisoned in North Korea since January satisfied the main goal of a trip to Pyongyang by former president Jimmy Cart- er. But Carter’s mission was also noteworthy for what did not happen. Aijalon Mahli Gomes, 31, a


teacher and activist who had been convicted of entering the North illegally, arrived at Bos- ton’s Logan International Air- port with Carter on Friday after- noon after being pardoned by North Korea’s reclusive leader, KimJong Il. Therewas no indica- tion, however, that Carter had been granted the meeting with Kimthat had been widely antici- pated when the former president left for Pyongyang on Wednes- day. That plan apparently unrav- eledwhenKimtook an unexpect-


ed trip to China, which experts described as part of efforts to build support for a planned pow- er transfer to his son, Kim Jong Eun. Kim Jong Il is likely to call on China for aid and support ahead of a delegates’ meeting next month in Pyongyang at which the younger Kim could be given a top leadership role. “If Carter got any assurances


beforehand that he’d meet with KimJong Il, and thenKimJong Il stiffed him, that raises in my mind more questions about Kim’s health,” said Victor Cha, a North Korea expert who consult- ed with U.S. officials about Cart- er’s trip. “Because if he’s avoiding meeting an ex-president — I mean, this guy loves to meet ex-presidents. That’s one possi- ble interpretation. The other, which is entirely possible, is that Kim may have planned this Chi- na trip in advance, and it was Carter’s trip that was sudden.” Indeed, Gomes’s condition in


North Korea had attracted in- creased attention in recent weeks, prompted by a July report from North Korea’s state-run news agency that Gomes had attempted suicide. Earlier this


on washingtonpost.com Prisoner homecoming


Former president Jimmy Carter and Aijalon Mahli


Gomes arrive in Boston. washingtonpost.com/world


month, the State Department said it had sent a group to Pyongyang, including a consular official, two doctors and an inter- preter, in connection with the case. The group was permitted to


visit Gomes, who was sentenced in April to eight years of hard labor after being convicted of illegally entering the country from China. But it was unable to take himhome,U.S. officials said. The group’s alarm at Gomes’s


condition made his release im- perative, according to Cha. “Be- cause froma diplomatic perspec- tive, if this guy dies in North Korea, one, it would be terrible, and two, it creates all sorts of headaches from a policy stand- point,” he said. Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.)


and New Mexico Gov. Bill Rich- ardson (D) also lobbied to make


ers were suffering from depres- sion. “They aremore isolated. . . . They are not eating well.” The miners’ living conditions present so many logistical and


6


on washingtonpost.com Trapped in a mine


To view video that the trapped Chilean miners


filmed of themselves, go to washingtonpost.com/world.


mental health issues that the support staff includes engineers, psychologists, nutritionists, lab technicians and a detachment of Chilean police. In total, there are about 10 professionals fully at work for each trappedminer. After a week of consultation


with NASA, a team of astronaut specialists will be brought in to monitor theminers. Despite the huge challenges of


what is increasingly seen as an unprecedented rescue, Manalich said the cost of the operation would not be a factor. “This is not about money,” he


said. “This is about getting them out.”


Franklin is a special correspondent.


the trip, but Carter offered the strongest assurances that he could secure Gomes’s release, Cha said. According to North Korea’s


news agency, Carter apologized in Pyongyang for Gomes’s behav- ior. The agency described the pardon as “a manifestation of [North Korea’s] humanitarian- ismand peace-loving policy.” Gomes, who had frequently


protested human rights viola- tions inNorthKorea, had lived in Seoul before his arrest. After his arrival in Boston on Friday, he embraced assembled family members in a tearful reunion on the airport tarmac as Carter looked on. The group then walked into a terminal building without speaking to reporters. Gomes was the fourth Ameri-


can in the past two years to be detained for sneaking into the North. LastAugust, former presi- dent Bill Clinton, carrying out a similar humanitarian mission, helped secure a pardon for U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee. Clinton was able to meet with


KimJong Il, 68,who is thought to have suffered a stroke in 2008.


DIGEST MEXICO


Bomber hits as cartel victims are identified Working in an overflowing morgue in the northern border state of


Tamaulipas, forensic investigators have begun to identify the bodies of 72 illegal migrants executed by drug cartel gunmen after they allegedly refused to work for their captors. Officials said Friday that 14 of the executed migrants were from


Honduras, 12 from El Salvador, four fromGuatemalaandone Brazilian. As condemnation rained onMexico for its failure to protect illegal


immigrants on their way to the U.S. border, a car bomb exploded outside the studios of the national Televisa network in the nearby state capital of Ciudad Victoria. It was the third major car bombing inMexico in twomonths.No one


was injured in the blast. Meanwhile, President Felipe Calderon announced that Roberto


Jaime Suarez, a state prosecutor, had disappeared two days ago in the town of San Fernando, along with a transit police officer, while they were investigating the massacre. A security spokesman for Calderon said the Zetas, a paramilitary


drug cartel, kidnapped the migrants and tried to force them to work for them.


Also Friday, the State Department said that children of diplomatic


personnel in Monterrey, Mexico’s business capital, must leave next month, following a deadly gun battle there last week outside a school. —William Booth


YEMEN


Officials and rebels reach peace deal Yemen’s government and


northern rebels have agreed to bolster a fragile truce and start a political dialogue to end a civil war that has raged on and off since 2004. The deal was signed in the


Persian Gulf state ofQatar, where Yemeni officials and rebels have been in talks sinceTuesday,mem- bers of both delegations said Fri- day.


Successful implementation of


the deal would come as a relief to the government, which is strug- gling to curb a rising southern separatist movement and a resur- gent al-Qaeda wing that has in- creasingly targeted the state in recent months.


—Reuters BURMA


Junta leaders quit military posts Burma’s junta carried out a


major military reshuffle Friday that retired more than a dozen senior leaders, officials said, in an apparent move to prepare for November national elections. There were conflicting reports


about whether the top two junta leaders—SeniorGen. Than Shwe and his second-in-command, Gen. Maung Aye — also stepped down from the military while retaining their respective posts as the junta’s chairman and vice chairman. ThanShwehas ruled the coun-


try since 1992. The government portrays the


elections as a key step toward shifting to civilian rule after five decades of military domination,


but critics call them a sham and say the military shows little sign of relinquishing control. —Associated Press


Sudan’s Bashir attends Kenyan ceremony undisturbed: Kenya chose not to arrest Sudanese President OmarHassan al-Bashir on International Criminal Court charges of genocide when he ar- rived for a ceremony to mark the East African nation’s new consti- tution.The ICC, to whichKenya is a signatory, accuses Bashir of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region. Bashir denies the charges.


3 U.S. troops killed in Afghani- stan: Homemade bombs killed three U.S. troops in southern and eastern Afghanistan, and a road- side blast tore through a crowded market in the increasingly vola- tile north, killing three policemen


and two civilians. NATO gave no other details about the attacks on theU.S. troops.


Floods displace 1 million in southern Pakistan: Floodwaters that have reached the Indus River delta displaced at least 1 million southern Pakistan residents in the past two days, U.N. officials said. In central and northern Pakistan, floodwaters have begun to recede, but in the southern province of Sindh, they are wreaking havoc, mostly in the Qambar-Shadadkot and Thatta regions.


Mining strike threatened in S. Africa: South Africa’s largest union threatened to bring gold and platinum mining and other industries to a halt next week in a strike to support a labor stoppage by 1.3 million state workers. —From news services


WINSLOW TOWNSON/AP


AijalonMahliGomes, convicted of enteringNorthKorea illegally, greets his mother, JacquelineMcCarthy, at the airport in Boston.


Carter, by contrast, met with


Political Bureau member Kim Yong Nam, who reportedly ad- vanced the idea that Pyongyang wants to resume six-party nucle- ar disarmament talks. The Obama administration, though, still wants to see evidence of North Korea’s commitment to denuclearization before talks continue.Carter advocates a soft- er approach toward the North, and before his trip, U.S. officials


worried that Carter might try to leverage his humanitarian mis- sion to achieve diplomatic prog- ress, several sources said. As of Friday, Kim Jong Il was


apparently still in China, where he was traveling by armored train.


harlanc@washpost.com


Staff writerWilliamBranigin in Washington contributed to this report.


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