Tunnel to Chile Miners Passes Escape Test

Rescue workers finished reinforcing the tunnel from the surface to a collapsed shaft where 33 Chilean miners are trapped, the AP reports, and an escape capsule successfully navigated almost the entire length in a test. "We didn't send it all the way down because we could risk that someone will jump in," Chile's mining minister said, beaming as he reported that the capsule "didn't even raise any dust."

With a successful test of the escape method, all is in place for the rescue operation to begin in earnest soon, the Telegraph reports. Authorities have been impressed by the selflessness of the miners; the health minister said the trapped men "were fighting with us because everyone wanted to be at the end of the line, not the beginning.”

(More Chile stories.)