Coverage of Rescue of Chilean miners

[Dayna]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... e-Live.htm

They've started sending the rescue capsule down now.

http://www.ustream.tv/cbsnews

[AndyM]

It's pretty amazing to watch, very emotional stuff. Muy emocionada, as one of the tearful, grateful relatives said. I can only hope the miners and their families don't suffer too much from the tsunami of media attention that is (unavoidably, even understandably) heading their way, and the political exploitation that is already in full flow, with the country's president there giving speeches. But if they all get out OK, what an achievement.

[Philellinas]

It's all very moving, of course, and I am glad that the poor bastards will emerge relatively unscathed. Once they are safe I wonder whether they will go back down into the bowels of the earth or dine out on the story. Perhaps they will have time to watch this DVD:-

[Des]

I've just caught a bit of the coverage and I could only think about the moths that were flying around the lights. Bet some of them were pretty fab. Wish I could pop along with my net.

[Dayna]

I was up last night till about 1:00 watching it on the live CBS stream just as it was happening. I saw them lower the rescue capsule down and heard the strange clanking noise it was making going down. The family members were waiting there patiently, the first miner's family had a little boy waiting there in the cold desert with them and at one point, they were singing while one guy played his guitar. What an incredible spirit these people have. When the first one came up, I saw the little kid crying. It was so heart warming. The second one came up and was very animated. You could hear him yelling before it even came to the top and when he finally got out, he was still animated and handing out rocks to everyone. I watched the third and was tired, so I thought "I can't stay here too many hours watching all this, so I'll get some sleep and watch it more in the morning." I'm happy I haven't lost all the Spanish I learned in school and could understand things here and there. There weren't any outside media allowed there. Their president looks like a very nice guy. I hope he's really that way.

Last night, there were various TV shows on to watch, but none were more interesting than this.

That capsule is amazing. It was designed by a NASA engineer.

[Dayna]

There were two Chilean people singing and playing guitars just now. Another place they were hugging. This is better than any Reality TV out there!

[Ted]

I don't like it now they are all mainstream...I preferred it when they were underground

[Ian M]

There was a tweet going round:

"Let's all hide when the next miner comes up"

[Des]

First Chilean miner up the shaft asked the question...."is the DFS sale still on?"

[CantSleepClownsWillGetMe]

Got this one by email today -

[Neil Foxlee]

"The last of the 33 miners trapped deep underground in northern Chile for more than two months has been rescued."

"The 2010 Pakistan floods began in July 2010 [...]. At one point, approximately one-fifth of Pakistan's total land area was underwater. According to Pakistani government data the floods directly affected about 20 million people, mostly by destruction of property, livelihood and infrastructure, with a death toll of close to 2,000. The number of individuals affected by the flooding exceeds the combined total of individuals affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake."

[AndyM]

Love the GG picture.

[Des]

Well done Clowns.

[Philellinas]

I'm sorry the miners lost their friendly football game 2-3 against a Government XI led by President Pinera but at least it was a home win.

[Neil Foxlee]

Channel 4 News last night provided a further illustration of how news coverage is skewed by short-term drama rather than bigger ongoing stories - a report from Haiti on the eve of a massive storm about to hit the island, which mentioned that 1.3 million people remained homeless after the earthquake in January.