The evacuation of the 33 miners trapped in a Chilean underground mine are likely to start being rescued on Wednesday, according to the mining minister. Laurence Golborne said that, they plan to start the process of rescue around this Wednesday and it should last for not more than two days.

The minister was speaking following the successful drilling through the underground chamber, where all the miners have been sheltering since they were trapped. Work has already begun in efforts to stabilize the top part of the rescue shaft using a steel casing. This will take about one and a half days.

The miners are trapped about 700m underground, and have remained here since August 5. The drilling breakthrough was reported shortly after 1200GMT Saturday, sparking celebrations all over Chile. Mr. Golborne, while speaking during a news conference at the vicinity the San Jose mine, said that the decision was taken in order to reinforce the 96m of top part of this newly completed shaft.

He added that the 16 steel tubes were going to be lowered into the shaft one after the other. The minister insisted that the remaining shaft was exposed to rock, thereby required no strengthening. Once the casing is brought together, officials hope to take only 48 hours before the rescue capsule is put in place.

Such an operation, says BBC’s Rajesh Mirchandani, has never been tried before. A winch-and-pulley system is has to be set up before Phoenix, the special capsule, can be lowered down along the shaft. Then, the miners are going to be brought up one after the other.

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