Pedro Buttazzoni, the drilling operations overseer told the media that they had about 524ft remaining to drill to reach the trapped miners.

In the media earlier, the President of Chile, Sebastian Pinera had said depicted optimism the rescue party would save the miners fast by getting them out as quickly as possible.

The Chilean miners have been trapped for around two months underground, more than any other trapped group.

The miners are trapped underground for around sixty days, more than any former group to be trapped around.

Buttazzoni who leads the drilling and the head of the mandated company, Geotec, said they had been able to cut through 1509ft or 464m of rock. He was optimistic that his team was expecting to break right through into the region the miners had been sheltering in about three or four days.

He also confessed that they were in serious debate as to whether they would be lining the tunnel made for the rescue process with ideal metal casing, which was a process that might just take up a couple more days.
In case they would agree lining was not really needed, he said that it was not only highly probable but “perfectly possible’ for the miners to be brought at the surface by the coming weekend.

Earlier on, the Chilean President was hoping to have the miners rescued prior to making a European trip on the 17 of October.

He said that his hope was driven by the fact that he wanted to “share that moment with the miners.”
Pulling the men to the surface was expected to take around an hour each, with doctors saying that the miners were now exercising as they prepared for the momentous ride.

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