On August 5, 2010, the San Jose copper and gold mine in Chile caved in, trapping 33 miners underground. For over two weeks, there was no sign that they were alive. Seventeen days later, rescuers above ground made contact with the miners, and it was confirmed that they were alright — or at the very least, alive.
Bryan Keenan, author of an article in The Telegraph concerning the psychological pressures faced by the miners, was a hostage in Beirut for four years. He can therefore relate his own struggles of being trapped with the long wait for rescue that the miners faced.
“The greatest horror of mankind is to be buried alive,” writes Keenan. “[There are] so many men [and] inevitable psychological breakdowns will come with different intensities at different times.” He continues, “mind time is totally different from ordinary time. […] Strategies to kill time […] don’t work.”
So how did these men cope? According to Keenan, once the miners were located, the most senior miner, Mario Gomez, sent a note up to his wife above ground. “It was a message of hope […] ‘God is great, and the help of my God is going to make it possible to leave this mine alive.’”
This courageous message of hope highlights the fact, as Keenan puts it, that “the heart is stronger than the mind […] and flies to those you love. It is an intuitive thing.”
The families of these miners have also been victims in this unfortunate situation. Lila Ramirez, the wife of Mario Gomez said that when she found out about what had happened, she felt a lot of rage and pain. “I felt powerless,” she said. “I knew this was an accident waiting to happen”.
Elizabeth Segovia, the wife of trapped miner Ariel Ticona recalled: “When I heard about the accident, my world just collapsed. I cried and cried […] but I had to try and be strong especially for my two sons.” The father of another miner, Richard Alex Vega, stated, “I’m not the kind of person to sit there with my arms crossed and crying. I said my son needs my help. I went into the mine […] to try and find him. It was terrible.”
During the second month of the miners’ darkness, one can only wonder how they survived. Vivian Sequera of The Globe and Mail paints a picture of the support team behind the trapped miners headed by their lead psychiatrist, Alberto Iturra Benavides. They focused on the mental health of the miners and had them host prayer sessions twice a day.
While underground, the miners had leisure time, during which they watched movies and television, mostly news programs, action, or comedy movies for about 13 hours a day — but nothing depressing. Some miners requested music players and headphones, but this was rejected because this activity tends to isolate people from one another, and one of the main objectives was to keep the miners together.
They had daily chores of cleaning the trash, emptying the toilet, and attending to the supply capsules, which were called “palomas,” or carrier pigeons. These were very important for the team’s survival, since they contained supplies for the miners. When these palomas were lowered, at least three miners emptied them and filled them back up with dirty clothes or other material, rolled up to fit.
Approximately 100 litres of water was also pumped into the mine every day, so the miners could take showers, along with fresh air pumped down on the hour, reducing the heat below. As for eating habits, lunch was shared together at noon to maintain unity of the group, and the warm meals retained heat because of the high temperature underground. Each miner got an average of 2,200 calories a day.
Since October 13, all the miners have been rescued. “I was with God, and I was with the devil, but God won, I held onto God’s hand, the best hand, and at no point in time […] did I doubt that God wouldn’t get me out of there.” said Mario Sepulveda Espina after his rescue. However, a doctor said that 19-year-old Jimmy Sanchez, the youngest of the freed miners, appeared to be having a hard time adjusting, and seemed depressed. “He spoke very little and didn’t seem to connect.”
So what happens now? How do these miners cope psychologically and physically with what happened to them? Physically, the lack of sunlight led to a decrease in vitamin D, and according to the Chilean health minister, the miners suffered signs of anxiety and increased heart rate as they were lifted to the surface. One miner is known to be suffering from pneumonia, which was complicated by silicosis, a lung disease caused by inhaling crystalline silica dust. Another miner has complications resulting from his diabetes. These men will be kept on watch for the time being.
Priscilla Dass-Brailsford, a professor of psychiatry at the Georgetown University Medical Center states, “We cannot say for certain what will happen in the coming days, and especially weeks and months. Some [of the miners] may be haunted by the trauma and it may dominate their lives and render them helpless. Others may bounce back and do just fine. It will likely depend on each miner’s individual constitution, family, and other support, and whether they have experienced past traumas.”
Religion is considered important as well in the current situation, according to Dass-Brailsford. “Many people who have survived confinement and captivity report that their faith helped them cope. Faith is a huge protective factor for trauma survivors.” This is evident with the miners, who speak of the pull between the devil and with God and their strong faith in God.
As for the counselling the miners will receive, Dass-Brailsford echoes Keenan’s previous thoughts about the families as victims who have also suffered, and suggests that their families should be involved in the counselling. “[They] would get intense individual counselling — group counselling for all the men, and family counselling as well, so that they understand what the miners may be going through now and how best to support them.”
Sheryl Bishop, a social psychologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, continues on Das-Brailsford’s statements. “In the short term, some miners may experience panic attacks, flashbacks and post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from memories of the roof collapse, and the fear of never being rescued. […] Some miners may find going back underground to be particularly disturbing.”
However, this may take a while to appear, or even go away. These are just some factors that the miners face.
Many of the miners later reunited at the San Jose mine to attend a ceremony dedicated to their rescue. They were joined by an Evangelical Pastor and a Roman Catholic priest, who were also present at the rescue. The Chilean President says the mine will be closed, and we can only hope now that the miners can recover to some degree for their families and for themselves.
