Trapped Chilean miners sing national anthem in footage from inside mine

Video shot on camera sent down through emergency shaft shows men in good spirits

Video from inside the mine where Chilean miners are trapped Link to this video

The first video footage of the 33 Chilean miners who have been trapped underground for three weeks shows the men in good spirits, singing the national anthem and chanting, "Long live Chile, and long live the miners."

The men shot the video with a camera sent down to them through a small shaft drilled to their emergency shelter in the San José mine.

Five minutes of what is understood to be a 45-minute video were released late yesterday by the Chilean government.

In the grainy, night-vision footage, the men appear stripped to the waist and with thick beards.

One miner gives a guided tour of the small shelter where the men took refuge when a landslide trapped them inside the mine on 5 August.

He explains that he and his colleagues have enough room to stand and lie down, points out the "little cup to brush our teeth", and the place where they pray each day.

"We have everything organised," he says.

The few items they have are carefully laid out: a first aid cabinet, shelves holding unidentified bottles, mats in a corner for rest.

As the camera fixes on a table where dominoes have been laid out, the tour guide says that "this is where we entertain ourselves, where we play cards".

He added: "We meet here every day. We plan, we have assemblies here every day so that all the decisions we make are based on the thoughts of all 33."

Many of the miners appear in the video wearing their hard hats. As the camera pans to them, some flash peace signs, wave and smile. Others look groggy as if they have just woken up.

"Greetings to my family," says one unidentified man. "Get us out of here soon, please."

At one point the footage shows a close-up of a thermometer reading 29.5C (85F).

According to psychiatrists, one of the miners demonstrates the kind of practical optimism key to the miners' high morale.

"There are a large number of professionals who are going to help in the rescue efforts from down here," he says.

Towards the end of the video, the men launch into a hearty rendition of the national anthem.

The camera was sent down through a borehole used for communications. Another small hole that snakes down to the men's shelter is used for lowering food, while a third provides ventilation.

What the men may not know is that the mining company that hired them is doing nothing to help the rescue attempt. The San Esteban company says it cannot afford to pay their wages and may go bankrupt.

San Esteban is in such bad shape that it has neither the equipment nor the money to rescue the men. The escape tunnel, which will cost about £1.1m, will instead be drilled by Chile's state-owned mining company.

Earlier this week, San Esteban lawyers said that with the mine shut down the company was at risk of bankruptcy.

Senator Baldo Prokurica, who is on the Senate mining committee, said he had been pushing Congress for years to increase the number of inspectors for the state regulatory agency, Sernageomin. It had only 18, he said, which made regulating the country's several hundred mines a daunting task.

"The government has abandoned [the regulator]," Prokurica said in an interview with the Associated Press. "If you look at the laws, they are good. We need to enforce the laws, not make more laws or increase fines."

President Sebastian Piñera has fired top regulators and created a commission to investigate the accident and the agency. Since the collapse, the agency has shut down at least 18 small mines for safety violations, a possible sign that lax safety measures were open secrets at many mines.

Yesterday, the first of many expected lawsuits against San Esteban and the government were filed, and a judge ordered the retention of £1.2m of company money in anticipation of the suits.

Despite advances in technology and increased emphasis on safety, at least publicly, mining remains a dangerous profession.

Since 2000, an average of 34 people have died every year in mining accidents in Chile, with a high of 43 in 2008, according to a review of Sernageomin data.

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• Anthem
• in
• first
• footage
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• mine

[esquibelle]

Amazing men, every single one of them. How they survived & helped each other stay alive is one of the greatest human stories ever.

May they have long, happy lives.

[Paperhouse81]

In an ironic and romantic way, these people are going to miss the days spent down there...it is rather nostalgic to watch this and feel the love in the air, to feel the closeness these people shared. May god bless them all and may they all be healthy and safe. I am sure they will have they myth to tell when they come back home...for it has been an odyssey to be under the conditions as a human being.

Peace and Love.

[OQUENDO1968]

Deep Dpwn, I beleive this was an incredible hoax! Nothing makes sense about the story. But that's just me.

[josephine938]

I admit when Anderson Cooper was reporting this early on when they were first trapped down there i ignored the news because i was pretty sure they were left down there to die with no hope of rescue. The night of the rescue i was delighted so much i could barely sleep! I watched it at work, and then when i got home i watched the entire rescue until the very last man was out. It was the happiest, best news story i have ever seen in my life!!!

[dianmarin]

how did they breath? wasnt it hard to get oxygen down there?

[RyanAye]

@esquibelle not all of them, one was found out to have been cheating on his wife whilst he was underground, secondly the space down there was huge ! it wouldn't have been hard not to survive , lastly all the hard work was done not by them, but above ground, the only way they wouldnt have survived is if one decided to go hannibal on the rest of them or if they randomley took a hunger strike! it was not a miracle, mearly an inconvenience!

[WPGsk8Dillon]

probably stunk down ther

[soxmonki]

They are all out! Yay!!