Copiapo, Chile (CNN) -- Rescuers have bored more than halfway through the earth and rock separating 33 trapped Chilean miners from the surface they haven't seen since early August, a spokesman for the rescue effort said Tuesday.
The so-called Plan B drill has chewed through 330 meters of the 623-meter (2,040-foot) depth required to reach the men, Andre Sougarret, a rescue operations spokesman, told reporters. The miners have been stuck beneath northern Chile's Atacama Desert since an August 5 cave-in and have been awaiting rescue since they were found alive 17 days later.
The men have been surviving on supplies funneled to them from above ground through earlier bore holes, each about 4 inches in diameter. If all goes well, they may be brought to the surface in late October or early November.
CNN
