Spare a thought for the Chilean miners as they prepare to be rescued...

This topic has already generated so much buzz and media attention, and now here we are - apparently mere hours away from the first miner being rescued.
According to news sources all over the web, rescuers will begin pulling up the first of the trapped miners anytime within the next 24 hours.

Now I can't speak for everybody, but being confined in a really small space has to rank pretty high up there on the "Oh crap no" list...
Just check out the size of the rescue capsule...:

via Associated Press

Seriously...?

There is barely enough room in there to even scratch an itch... depending on the location of the itch that is :)

Don't get me wrong - the rescuers are doing a sterling job of getting these guys out - and I have no doubt that every last miner will get out and be reunited with their families.

I just shudder if I try to imagine myself in the same situation.

Imagine spending 68 days trapped in a tiny pitch black room (or tomb, if you prefer :) approx. 700m below what is arguably the driest place on Earth - the Atacama Desert, along with 32 other men in exactly the same situation.

Check out this infographic to get an idea of how the miners have stayed alive until now - click on the image to view it full size:

It is scary stuff - and I do not think that any human being can come away from an experience like this, without being changed in some huge and fundamental way... could you?

So with that in mind, spare a thought for these 33 miners, who have already braved what must truly be an unbearable ordeal...

...Hey that gives me an idea - they should base the next Survivor season on this - "Survivor Chile - 20 Strangers stranded beneath the Atacama Desert - One Survivor"... now that would have to rank as the toughest Survivor yet!

Related articles

• Emotional ordeal for Chile miners far from over (reuters.com)
• Trapped miners wait for dawn rescue (mirror.co.uk)
• Drilling Rig Reaches Trapped Chilean Miners Leading To Rescue [Video] (realestateradiousa.com)
• Chile miners rescued: first miner to surface within hours (telegraph.co.uk)
• Chile's trapped miners set to be freed (globaltvbc.com)
• Chilean miners: rival media outlets jostle for space in Atacama desert (guardian.co.uk)
• Factobx: What's next for Chile's trapped miners? (reuters.com)
• Miners' kin struggle with jealousy, rivalries on eve of rescue (salon.com)
• Hours From Freedom: Chilean Miners to Make Their Escape (abcnews.go.com)
• Dramatic endgame nears for trapped Chile miners (thenewstribune.com)
• Trapped miners 'anxious but tranquil' as rescue is imminent (cnn.com)