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Chile mine owners ask for forgiveness after collapse

01 September 2010 04:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The owners of the Chile mine which collapsed, leaving 33 workers trapped, have apologised to miners and their families, APA reports quoting BBC News.
CEO of the San Esteban mining group, Alejandro Bohn, said he "must ask forgiveness" for the "pain" caused.
Drilling work to rescue the miners has begun, but officials believe it could take three to four months.
A team of Nasa experts advised officials to be honest with the miners and not to give them "false hopes".
The miners, who are 700m (2,300ft) underground, have been told it could take a long time to get them out of the San Jose mine, but have not been given dates.
The Nasa team, which includes a doctor, nutritionist, and engineer and a psychologist, arrived in Santiago after a request by the Chilean authorities. They are due to travel to the mine site on Wednesday.
’Terrible situation’
Speaking to a parliamentary committee, Mr Bohn said he sought forgiveness for the incident, three weeks after the mine collapsed.
"The pain caused by this unwanted and unforeseen situation means we must ask forgiveness for the anguish being felt at this time," Mr Bohn told a parliamentary mining committee looking into the incident.
"This is a terrible situation, and we hope that it will soon come to a happy end."
Last Thursday, a Chilean judge ordered the freezing of $1.8 bn in assets owned by San Esteban as future compensation for the miners’ familes.
Relatives of miners have fiercely criticised San Esteban, accusing the company of ignoring safety guidelines. The owners deny the accusations.
Work on the relief shaft began on Monday in an attempt to free the men, who remain trapped in a refuge chamber of the mine, where they managed to take shelter after a rock collapse on 5 August.
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera says his government "has done and will continue to do everything humanly possible to rescue them alive."