Rescuers in Chile Monday completed lining a segment of shaft through which the 33 trapped miners will be winched, raising hopes that the extractions will begin Tuesday.

Engineers worked through the night to lay 96 meters of sheet metal at the top of a 622-meter tunnel, finishing at 3am local time, prompting cheers and shouts of ""Viva Chile"". Test runs of the rescue capsule, dubbed the phoenix, are expected to start today.
The mining minister, Laurence Golborne, said that if tests went well the miners could start being hauled out one by one Tuesday evening, 68 days after the collapse of part of the gold and copper mine in the lunar-type landscape of the Atacama desert.
President Sebastian Pinera is due to visit the site today, possibly accompanied by his Bolivian counterpart, Evo Morales, who has requested attendance because one of ""los 33"" is Bolivian.
Rescuers said they would resume drilling Monday in a separate shaft as a back-up plan in case of problems with the first one, which will oblige the capsule to twist up to a dozen times through curves of 28-inch diameter.
Video inspection showed the hole's lower walls to be firm and smooth rock, obviating the need to line them, which would have taken days and risked blockages.
The health minister, Jaime Manalich, said that at least two rescuers, including a paramedic, would be winched down to prepare the men for a fraught, claustrophobic journey which could take 10 to 40 minutes.
Authorities wanted the most stable miners to go up first, he said. ""They have to be psychologically mature, have a great deal of mining experience and be able to handle a quick training on how to use the harness and oxygen mask in the Phoenix capsule.""
A few had volunteered to go up first and several expressed a desire to go last in ""a completely admirable show of solidarity"", said the minister. One motive to be last, however, is a guaranteed place in the Guinness World Records for the longest time a miner has ever been trapped underground. Given the complexities of the current situation, it is a record that many expect to be insurmountable.
They will be given green waterproof suits designed to let their skin breathe as they ascend, and at the top will receive a pair of Oakley Radar sunglasses to shield them from direct sunlight before beginning a 48-hour evaluation of their physical and mental health. (Source: The Guardain)
Photo: Relatives of the trapped Chilean miners have breakfast outside the San Jose mine Monday. (Photo: Rodrigo Arangua/AFP/Getty Images)