SAN JOSE MINE, Chile (AFP) – The completion of a rescue shaft designed to bring 33 Chilean miners to the surface after weeks underground is only "two or three hours" away, senator Baldo Procurica announced Saturday.

"In two or three hours the drilling of a shaft under Plan B would be completed," the Chilean senator told reporters.
Engineers had only to drill through no more than four meters (yards) of rock but these last meters had to be passed with special care to avoid tunnel collapses, he said.