Ten more Chile miners to go home

Health officials say the miners will be closely monitored for at least six months

Doctors treating 30 freed miners still in hospital in Chile say at least 10 of them will be discharged on Friday.

Three of the men were allowed home on Thursday and officials at the hospital in the northern town of Copiapo say the rest are in “very good shape”.

Health Minister Jaime Manalich told reporters that all the men were likely to have a hard time psychologically.

Thirty-three miners were brought out of the San Jose mine on Wednesday after spending 69 days underground.

Late on Thursday, Edison Pena, Juan Illanes and Bolivian Carlos Mamani were greeted by cheering neighbours as they arrived home.

None of the men has given a detailed account of their time trapped in the mine, but Juan Illanes described the first 17 days of the ordeal as a nightmare, before they were discovered by rescue workers.

He later told reporters that he needed to be alone and quiet.

‘A new life’

No details have been given of the men who will next be given permission to leave hospital but Mr Manalich said all 30 were in good condition, despite problems that many have had with their eyes and teeth.

Mario Gomez, 63, is on a course of antibiotics for acute pneumonia and the health minister said he, too, was doing well.

Mr Manalich said the miners would be closely monitored over the next six months and predicted that a very hard time lay ahead of them.

“They have to adapt to a new life. Therefore we are prepared to stay with them and to work at least in the next six months,” he said.

He added that the men’s salaries would be paid for at least the next month and the government was committed to finding them new jobs.

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