Miners ready for the long haul to freedom

Fresh air and freedom were just hours away last night for the first of 33 miners trapped a half-mile underground for 69 days.

The miners' endurance and unity havecaptivated the world as the Chilean government prepared their rescue. No-one in history has been trapped underground so long and survived.

The first miner was expected to be lifted to the surface in the early hours today in a custom-made capsule. President Sebastian Pinera was at the mine, waiting to greet him.

"We made a promise to never surrender, and we kept it," Mr Pinera said shortly before two rescue workers were expected to go down to prepare the miners for their trip.

Chile has taken extensive precautions to ensure the miners' health and privacy, sending down navy special forces paramedics to prepare them for the trip and using a screen to block the top of the shaft from more than 1,000 journalists

The miners will be ushered through an inflatable tunnel, like those used in sports stadiums, to an ambulance for a trip of several hundred yards to a triage station for an immediate medical check. They will gather with a few family members, before being transported by helicopter to a hospital.

Each ride up was expected to take about 20 minutes, and authorities expected they would be able to haul up roughly one miner an hour.

The rescue of the last miner will end a national crisis that began when a cave-in sealed off the gold and copper mine on 5 August.

The only media allowed to record them coming out of the shaft were a government photographer and Chile's state television channel. Their images were expected to be delayed by 30 seconds to prevent the release of anything unexpected.

Rescuers finished reinforcing the top of the 2,041ft escape shaft on Monday, and the capsule descended flawlessly in tests.