Trapped Chilean miners make video

The 33 miners who are trapped deep in a Chilean mine have sent a video to the surface showing their underground emergency shelter.

The men, who have been trapped in a San Jose mine since Aug. 5,recorded a grainy, 45-minute video with a camera that was sent down an emergency shaft.

"The videographer turned the camera to each of the miners," reporter Connie Watson said from Chile. "They got to say hello personally to each of their loved ones. A few broke down and got teary-eyed."

One segment of the video was broadcast on Television Nacional de Chile late Thursday.

The man running the camera gives a guided tour of the area the miners have been living in, showing the emergency supplies, the table where they play games, the spot where they pray and the hallway where they take turns sleeping.

All the miners are shirtless because of the heat in their confined quarters. They've all grown beards and have lost weight.

"Greetings to my family! Get us out of here soon, please!" one unidentified man says in the video.

Above ground, the waiting families and friends gathered around a fire in the cold desert night to watch the video on a big screen, Watson said.

The camera was sent down through a bore-hole used for communications. Another small hole that snakes down to the men's shelter is used for lowering food and a third provides ventilation to the shelter, which is about 700 metres underground.

The miners have been told it will likely take weeks to rescue them.

Chilean Health Minister Jaime Manalich said the miners were told they would not be rescued before the Fiestas Patruas, Chiles Independence Day celebration on Sept. 18. They were told rescue crews are hoping to get them out before Christmas, he said.

Miners may go unpaid

What the men may not know is that the mining company that hired them is doing nothing to join in a rescue. The San Esteban company says it can't afford to pay their wages and may go bankrupt.

San Esteban is in such bad shape that it has neither the equipment nor the money to rescue the men. Chile's state-owned mining company is going to drill the escape tunnel, which will cost about $1.7 million.

In the days after the tunnel collapse at the gold and copper mine, companymanagement defended their safety measures, but have since said nothing publicly, and attempts to reach anyone at San Esteban were not successful.

Earlier this week, lawyers for the small mining company said that with the mine shut down, and no income coming in, the company was at a high risk for bankruptcy.