Chile: Drilling begins on escape route for trapped miners

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.

The men were trapped on August 5 when a landslide blocked the shaft down into the San Jose copper and gold mine in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert. Last year, three miners survived 25 days trapped in a flooded mine in southern China, and the Chileans passed that mark today.