Trapped Chilean miner had premonition of disaster

LONDON - A teenaged miner — among the youngest of the 33 people trapped in a mine in Chile since Aug 5 — had a premonition that there would be a disaster, his girlfriend has said.

Jimmy Sanchez, 19, had noticed rock falls as he worked 2,300 feet below the ground at the San Jose gold and copper mine and warned his bosses, said Helen Avalos, 17, his girlfriend and mother of his two-month-old daughter.

The miners have been trapped since Aug 5 when a tunnel collapsed at the mine, located about 700 km north of Chilean capital Santiago.

“He was afraid every time he went down there and he said he had this feeling that something terrible was about to happen. Jimmy was terrified there might be an earthquake and he could get trapped. They warned their bosses, but nobody would listen. Nobody cared for their safety,” Helen was quoted as saying by The Sun.

Helen and their daughter Barbara are now staying in tents put up near the pit.

A 31-tonne drill has begun boring through the solid rock to create a rescue tunnel. It would descend up to 50 feet a day, making a hole through which the men will be pulled up in a cage one at a time. But the process may take around four months.