Chile miners given first hot meal

The meals were packaged and sent down in a tube

Chilean miners trapped underground after a rock collapse have received their first hot meal in 26 days.

Meatballs, chicken and rice were piped through a tube to the 33 miners, who are stuck 700m (2,300ft) below the surface.

Previously the miners have been only been nourished with glucose tablets and high-protein milk.

A team from the US space agency Nasa have arrived at the mine to offer their advice on keeping the miners healthy.

The team of four experts were requested by the Chilean government to share their experience of coping in confined spaces.

A nutritionist from the team helped put together the menu.

Engineers have drilled through 20m of rock so far at the San Jose mine, in Copiapo, after beginning their work on Monday. The rescue attempt is expected to take three to four months.

The Nasa team, who will be there until Friday, praised the work of rescue workers to keep miners healthy.

“We’ve been very impressed with the organisation of the team and the quality of the medical care that’s been provided,” Nasa’s team leader, Michael Duncan, said at a news conference.

“And we’ve been very impressed also with the courage and the organisation that the miners have provided themselves in this very difficult circumstance,” he added.

He recommended that the miners did not consume alcohol or smoke cigarettes.

A video released on Wednesday showed the miners to be in better spirits than earlier images, wearing clean red T-shirts. Some of them had shaved off the beards they had grown.

Officials have said that rescue attempts will also involve a “Plan B”, in which a team will drill a separate shaft from a different part of the mountainside.

Dr Duncan has told Chilean officials to be frank with the miners about how long their rescue will take.

The miners have been told it could take a long time to get them out of the mine, but have not been given dates.

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