AFTER more than two months trapped deep in a Chilean mine, 33 miners were yesterday tantalisingly close to rescue.

A drilling rig today punched through to the underground chamber where 33 miners have been trapped for 66 days under the Chilean desert, raising cheers, tears and hopes.

A drill has broken through the rock to Chile's 33 trapped miners, offering them escape after two months underground.

Sixty-six agonising days after their gold and copper mine collapsed above them, 33 miners were anxiously awaiting a way out today as a drill carved into the last layers of rock above their underground purgatory.

RESCUERS hope to reach the 33 miners trapped underground in Chile within 24 hours, the mining minister says.

Chile’s mining minister announced that a shaft wide enough to provide an escape for 33 trapped miners should reach the men by tomorrow – and that their rescue could begin anywhere from two to 10 days after that.

THE 33 Chilean miners trapped for almost two months could be freed within the next 10 days as rescuers drill closer to their refuge deep below the Atacama desert.

THE first of three rescue capsules specially built to lift out 33 Chilean miners trapped since early August arrived at the mine.

The first of three rescue capsules specially built to lift out 33 Chilean miners trapped since early August arrived at the mine.

WORKERS in Chile expect to be able to rescue 33 trapped miners by mid-October, rather than early November as originally anticipated.

Rescuers drilling into a cavern where 33 Chilean miners are trapped have completed a bore hole ahead of schedule raising hopes the men could be out earlier than expected.

Chile’s mining minister acknowledged tonight that a problem has stalled the most advanced of three tunnels being drilled to 33 miners trapped underground and said officials might have to restart the bore hole in another location.

A huge drill began digging a planned escape route today as 33 men stuck half a mile underground in Chile became the longest-trapped miners in recent history.

CHILEAN rescuers will begin today the months-long task of drilling a shaft to rescue 33 trapped miners as officials draft an accelerated rescue plan.

THEIR self-imposed rations were meagre: Two spoonfuls of tuna, a sip of milk, a bite of cracker and a morsel of peach every second day.

SINGING the national anthem in a full-throated chorus, 33 miners trapped deep underground thanked their rescuers and settled in for a long wait until a tunnel wide enough to pull them out can be carved through a half-mile of solid rock.

Rescuers in Chile are lowering capsules containing rehydration tablets, glucose and oxygen down a long hole to 33 miners who surprised the world by staying alive while trapped a half-mile underground for two-and-a-half weeks.