I just ran across this news story on the BBC: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11054376" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11054376</a> Awesome! It's always a good heart-warming thing when you hear about people surviving stuff like this. Being a miner is something that I just could not do... ever. I'm not claustrophobic or anything, but the risks just don't seem worth the rewards to me. But that's not the part of the story that has me thinking "you've GOT to be kidding". This is: That's right... MONTHS. They estimate 120 days, assuming they get bigger/better mining equipment. Forget the "limited access to food", we're talking about 33 miners in a small shelter the size of an apartment, for 120 days. (somewhat morbid) FOCUS: Do they make it, or not? What do you think the end results will be? If you were there, what would you do to survive? How do you think you'd react? What do you think would transpire? ALT-FOCUS: Share any experiences you have of being trapped in an undesirable situation.
I say no way they ALL make it. This is the kind of deep-space travel scenario that NASA sets up and tests with carefully screened test subjects, that have been picked for their compatibility. I totally envision at least a few of them going full-on stark-raving mad, a few of them being seriously injured or killed, and the vast majority of them being irreparably scarred. There will not be a "happy ending" from this, rather a crap load of therapy. I really hope I'm proven wrong, and the human spirit can be pretty remarkable sometimes, but the cynic in me says "no way".
This is horrific, I bet these people get paid pennies and have to suffer things like this. Utterly awful. It reminds me of my favourite irish folk song about a father who works himself to death as a miner so his son can go to school and escape poverty. Never fails to bring some water to my eyes.
Hopefully they have a hole that they can shit into that takes it away. Because 4 months of shit piling up from 33 guys in a small space would get pretty gross.
Sometimes I can't stand somebody just a party, and even then I can still make efforts to easily avoid them. Trapped in a mine where you're basically sitting on top of each other? That does sound dreadful. I think the chronic snorer will be the first to go.
No way somebody doesn't go nuts and try and strangle everyone. And how the fuck would it take 120 days to get them? I understand all the safety and not wanting to have everything collapse, but that seems ridiculous to me.
I've read enough stories of people persevering through hell and high water to think that, if people can get food to them, they'll be okay. The knowledge that someone is working to get them out makes it pretty damn difficult to give up hope, especially if they stay in constant contact with the team outside that is working to get them out. Their families can probably send notes down and give them emotional support from the outside. Yes, it sucks, but in all honesty it's probably better than most third-world prisons. The living conditions are probably similar, but they don't have to worry about abuse from inmates/guards and they know that their "sentence" is 3-4 months. It's a pretty shitty situation, but people have lived through a lot worse. They will be fine. Their biggest concerns should be with the long-term health risks to their respiratory systems from spending that much time in a mine.
If they have people sending them notes, that will really help, but with 30-some-odd people being stuck in something the size of a small apartment for months, the reality is that something is going to get bad. There's a few things that scare the fuck out of me with this: - With that many people, that's a real small amount of actual space per person. You're going to go crazy. - Food concerns, obviously. - Disease. That place won't remain sanitary for long, disease will spread like wildfire after that. - What are the odds that someone in there doesn't have a major health issue, or won't develop one before rescue? Unless they can get Joe Shitluck his heart meds, he might very well die. Then you have a dead body you have to deal with. See my disease concerns above. I had one bad medical experience and I'm mentally fucked up from it. I can't even imagine the psychological damage created by being in that type of emergency shelter environment. I feel really bad for everyone involved with that.
All I know is that no matter whether they get out or not, someone will make a shitty horror/psychological thriller movie based on a bunch of miners trapped in a small space for three months.
This sounds like my worst nightmare come to life. I imagine that only a few days would pass before I start looking for a really sharp rock to bash my head into. Fuck survival instinct, that would just suck too bad. I can't imagine that there aren't a couple of those 33 people that would feel the same way.
I can't help thinking it... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_party If not that, then they will eventually get on each others nerves, and a few fistfights will come of it. If there are 30-some guys down there, I feel like at least one of them is going to die from cannibalism or at least be beaten to death.
Couple questions: 1.) Will they get basic sanitation needs met through a tube or small hole drilled? 30 people and someone's going to need to shit in the next 4 months. 2.) Food. Gotta have it. 3.) Water. Should be number 1 priority. Can do a lot for sanitation with clean water and a hole. 4.) 30 dudes? Worst. Sword fight. Ever. Good luck gentlemen.
There is one thing all of you seemed to fail to consider. All the trapped men.... are miners! None of them, not one, is remotely claustrophobic. They do not freak out because of small confines. Aren't miners used to working in spaces with 4 foot ceilings? I understand that the circumstances are terrible and they're trapped and it is a lot of people for on "apartment-sized" space, whatever that means. Small for New York or small for Atlanta or for Budapest? But the fact is, they probably spend 40-80 hours a week in refrigerator-box-sized spaces. If anyone can handle it, they can.
Dude. No running water. Almost no food. 30 dudes. No place to shit or even jack off in private. For 120 days. Think about that for a second and then type. That's like saying you can stuff a bunch of hardened criminals in a VW Bug for a trip cross country with a couple sticks of beef jerky and a bottle to communally piss in. But it's cool- they're used to confined spaces. No.
Not to be an uncaring asshole, but that sounds like a great idea for a reality show. Let's put the cast of Jersey Shore in a mine shaft. Minus the food.