I can't believe they lived underground for 2 months and are now being pulled up by a makeshift elevator.
This leads me to engineers and why they are cool. I'm absolutely impressed by how quickly this all came together. Yes, it still sucks to be stuck in the ground for 2 months. But seriously? They dug an ~2 foot diameter hole over 2000 feet into the ground and didn't kill the miners in the process. Then they devised a little elevator system to bring them to the surface.
CNN has a great little graphic that talks about the "elevator." It's 22" in diameter and 6'4" inside(they actually commented that the overweight miners have lost weight...due to lack of food....and should be able to fit in the tiny car). The ride takes about 15 minutes and is a claustrophobic nightmare - as far as I can tell. One of my favorite features is the harness that will keep the miners upright if they pass out. There's also an escape hatch if something goes wrong.....not sure how that 2000 ft slide would feel on your bum.
They aren't all out yet, but I have faith that it will work.
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