The Chile miners trapped in a gold and copper mine have now been told it could take until Christmas to drill a shaft wide enough to bring them up into daylight.
Jaime Mañalich, the minister of health, confirmed that they were now told. "We were able to tell them . . . they would not be rescued before the Fiestas Patrias [Chile's September 18 Independence Day celebrations], and that we hoped to get them out before Christmas," he said.
The men had not been told up to now due to concerns over the effect it would have on their morale.
Two small tremors shook northern Chile early yesterday but did not disrupt efforts to rescue 33 miners trapped deep underground 20 days after a cave-in, as the men sent heartwarming messages to relatives on the surface.
Engineers are working to install a big drill to dig out the miners, found alive on Sunday. They face a wait of up to four months for rescue from a hot, humid tunnel half a mile deep, a wait they have yet to be told about.
Miners and their relatives are exchanging letters through a narrow shaft, a crucial part of maintaining their mental health.
“You have no idea how much my soul aches to have been underground and unable to tell you I was alive,” trapped miner Edison Pena said in a letter to his family. “The hardest thing is not being able to see you.”
Fellow miner Esteban Rojas promised his wife he would finally buy her a wedding dress as soon as he gets out, and hold a church marriage ceremony, 25 years after they wed in a registry office.
Officials are vetting letters sent by relatives, to avoid any shocks.