karl penhaul is outside of the mine and he'll join us with the latest. what is the latest, karl? >> reporter: what they are doing is making sure that the phoenix rescue capsule is operating exactly as they intend it to operate. we've seen the technicians operating on that capsule, fixing cables, fixing cords, making sure that the oxygen supply is working. they are also making sure that the fiber optic cable that takes a video and audio signal up to the surface is working as well. the rescue capsule has a wide angle camera to feed information back to the rescuers as to how each miner is reacting as he heads back up to the surface. they are fine-tuning the cable t s. possibly halfway down, i would guess, judging only a matter of time that it was down there and then pulling it back up, making sure that the cable on the winch and pulley system is functioning properly and making sure that the inch-thick cable is not twisting because that twist also could cause the rescue capsule to twist as well. it's a process of fine tuning. it could still be an hour, an hour and a half before the f

karl penhaul is at the mine in chile. karl, before we bring anyone up from that mine, we have got to send a few people down. lift ton me, like i'm part of the process here. walk us through that process, if you would. >> reporter: absolutely, but i think you're no different from anybody else, tony. i think a lot of our viewers from across the world have been absorbed by this story from day one. i often get facebook messages or e-mails from individual families asking what's going on with the families. to bring you up to speed with what has to go on, before the first miner is brought to the

karl penhaul is standing by at camp hope. ooks like, now, karl, another rescuer, r is coming do. with each miner they'll send for the initial few, another rescuer down. >> reporter: that does seem to be the case. that is in fact what has been said the course of the afternoon, the initial phase, one rescuer down and then bring one miner up. but i must tell you that the family members here at camp hope are still celebrating, i would say, celebrating of course they're celebrating, but there were tears. both the men and women burst into tears, the national anthem. there were hugs to go around and then the images that are coming from the president himself, hugging the first miner coming out of that hole. but we also saw one of the chief rescue coordinators, also saw the two men that have stood stoically by through this rescue effort, who have said on many occasions, tonight we saw them cry. we saw them cry as florencio avalos stepped out of the capsule. this is a combination of 69 days of searching, of rescue, and of helping 33 min

karl penhaul there. obviously, taking its toll on karl, as well. the dry climate. your coverage, your perspective is nothing short of extraordinary. we thank you. >> thanks, karl after ten weeks under ground. there's concerns of the toll of the ordeal on the healthiest of the miners. five that have been rescued so far have been transported to a local hospital. they had to do that by helicopter. and more are going to be making their way there, as well. dr. sanjay gupta joins us from pasadena, california, with more on the medical perspective. seeing the outpouring of love, the joyous reunions but in the practical concerns, sanjay, their health. what are they going to be looking for as they examine these men? >> well, you know, it's worth stating again just how remarkable it is that these miners are coming up looking so good. after so much time. i think that we are getting used to seeing the images of them coming up smiling and looking seemingly healthy but from a medical standpoint, it is worth pointing out again that is a remarkable thing achieved h

our karl penhaul is there. karl, if you would, take as much time as you need, and bring us the sights, sounds and scenes as you have watched it unfold over the hours now. >> reporter: i think, if you gave me as much time as i needed, tony, we'd have to go back over the entire 12 hours that this rescue operation has lasted so far. there have been so many magical moments there, as i'm sure you'll agree, difficult to describe each one. but here we are in camp hope, the camp were the families have camped out since that mine collapsed on august the 5th, and today, and over last night, and now their hopes being fulfilled as their sons, as husbands, were finally pulled back to the surface. it really didn't matter which miner was being pulled to the surface at any one moment. there have been 33 families that arrived here, but since they arrived here, they became one big family with 33 sons. florencia av vallos may have been the first guy out of the whole but he is the son of this big family and that mood continued throu

the final countdown seeing their loved ones once again. >> karl penhaul on the scene. karl, thank you so much. we're going to keep karl close by and also vic, the mining professor of queens university in ontario standing by with us, as well as we have just a scene. they have been able to break the rescuers through to where those miners are and where they have been trapped since august 5th. they have been able to brek through, but still, more work needs to be done. camp hope has been set up there since this mining disaster took place. families, friends, journalists gathered there. but we just saw a celebration break out when word moved around that in fact, yes, they had broken through to where the miners are. more details of this coming up as 20 past the hour here on this cnn saturday morning. ♪ ♪ [ engine revs, tires screeching ] we give to you the all-new volkswagen jetta. we have one more surprise for you. fifteen-thousand nine-hundred neunzig dollar? [ sobbing ] [ camera shutters clicking ] ♪ whoo-hoo, yeah ♪ whoo-hoo, yeah i'd get this tightness in my chest. so i we

i want to check in once again with cnn's karl penhaul. nk, for everybody involved. for you, what -- what happens now, what sticks out in your mind over the last 24 hours? >> reporter: well, i think, you know, you'd have to go back to each one of those individual rescues and see at the moment that each miner stepped out of the fenix 2 rescue capsule and went back into the arms of the people they most loved in this life. it became a little bit routine toward the end of the day, to see the fenix capsule going so smoothly up and down. but what was completely not routine was the way that each family celebrated in its own way, a rebirth of sorts for the miner and a rebirth of sorts for the family. because this is what all the families i've spoken to have said, that this really does mark a before and an after. these miners and their families cannot simply go home and pick up the pieces of a normal life. their lives have now been changed forever. and tonight, here in camp hope, there very much is a feeling of what now? they've been through some of

cnn's karl penhaul has been at camp hope, camp esperanza.ual leader down there among all of these guys. he's the one when he came up and hugged and wrapped his arms around his wife. the next thing he did was he dropped to his knees in prayer. it goes to show not only how energetic these guys are, but how incredibly faithful so many of them have been and they have expressed that from the moment they reached the top there, coming out of the fik csewell. you can see that. our karl penhaul has been there from the very beginning watching this. karl, i know you have lila right next to you. i'm dying to know what she thought when she was able to wrap her arms around mario. >> reporter: we are going to ask her. she's still in the phase of hugs all around to everyone. [ speaksing in spanish ] [ speaking. spanish ] >> reporter: lila said she was very nervous and pained when she saw mario coming up in the rescue capsule because she didn't know how he would arrive, and then as that rescue cage opened, she was joyful and more so when she saw him drop to

and soon they'll be coming home. >> and cnn karl penhaul joins us live from the mine site. the digging is done so why respect rescuers going in there right away? >> reporter: well, really we heard this a couple of hours ago, in fact, from the mines, and what he says is the rescuers have got to first of all encase the first 100 yards or so of that rescue shaft because at the top of that rescue shaft there is a risk of some rock fall lower down, though, he says the good news is that rescue shaft is absolutely solid. so no problems. they'll then have to test a little bit more the rescue capsule, the so-called phoenix capsule and then what they've got to do can move across some heavy lifting gear, some pulleys over that and want to go show to make sure everything is absolutely right and so he says about a day and a half to put a casing in. he says about two days to put the winches and pulleys in and that takes us to wednesday and that will be the day that the first phoenix capsule goes down and the first miner comes back up, don. >> all right, cnn's karl penhaul live for us in

i believe i heard you that we have karl penhaul on the scene for us live. hello to you. you've been covering the story for quite some time. you've seen the moods and the emotions change. tell me about the mood and the emotion we saw two hours ago. >> reporter: well, in that time it's been inevitable that we made friends. we made friends with the families here that are waiting for their miner husbands and brothers to come home. families erupted into cheer ls. then a fe moments later that the breakthrough had comb. that the final countdown was beginning. then there were a lot of tears. a lot of hugs with family members. this is lila ramirez. she's the wife of the oldest miner down there, mario gomez. he's the most veteran, most experienced miner down there. i want to show you the face of mario. it's important to put faces with names. this is mario gomez. 63 years old. the most veteran miner down there. this is face that goes with mario gomez. this is underground. this is on the surface. and what lila has here, if she'll permit me, is a letter. the miners for 17 days. nobod

that was our karl penhaul.y was waiting for, the moment they'd been hoping for. 33 miners now home safe. rescuers, two, still underground. on the right side of your screen, you see it there. one has come home to a new daughter named esperanza, also obviously the translation of that name is hope. another returned to a soap opera and a mistress. one is going to graceland. i want to go back to karl penhaul now. karl, we heard the story of the miner who had a mistress and a wife on the scene. who was there to greet that miner? >> reporter: well, today yonni barrios hoped he could go in the back door, he had gotten in hot water over who really was over the rightful wife. but today the woman that was there to greet yonni barrios as he came back to the surface was his girlfriend, his mistress, if you like. the woman that he left his wife to go and live with. yonni barrios calls her chana and she calls him "my titanic." why is that? because the pair of them, they say, absolutely love the movie "titanic." she told me th

that was our karl penhaul.o the family was waiting for, the moment they'd been hoping for. 33 miners now home safe. rescuers, two, still underground. we're watching it live on the right side of your screen. you see it there. the world transfixed by their stories. one has come home to a new daughter named esperanza, also obviously the translation of that name is hope. another returned to a soap opera and a mistress. one is going to graceland. i want to go back to karl penhaul now. karl, we had heard this story of the miner, i guess, who had a mistress and a wife on the scene. who was there to greet that miner? >> reporter: well, today johnny barrios probably hoped he could have left by the back door, if there had been such a thing. yes, he had gotten into hot water over who was really the rightful wife. but today the woman that was there to greet johnny barrios as he came back to the surface was his girlfriend, his mistress, if you like. the woman that he left his wife to go and live with. johnny barrios calls h

i want to check in once again with cnn's karl penhaul. rl, it's been a remarkable 24 hours, i think, for everybody involved. for you, what -- what happens now, what sticks out in your mind over the last 24 hours? >> reporter: well, i think, you know, you'd have to go back to each one of those individual rescues and see at the moment that each miner stepped out of the fenix 2 rescue capsule and went back into the arms of the people they most loved in this life. it became a little bit routine toward the end of the day, to see the fenix capsule going so smoothly up and down. but what was completely not routine was the way that each family celebrated in its own way, a rebirth of sorts for the miner and a rebirth of sorts for the family. because this is what all the families i've spoken to have said, that this really does mark a before and an after. these miners and their families cannot simply go home and pick up the pieces of a normal life. their lives have now been changed forever. and tonight, here in camp hope, there very much is a feeling

karl penhaul, cnn, san jose mine, northern chile. >> i want to turn back now to the scene. live to the scene. patrick has been doing reporting for us there. he is standing by with one of the people who has been helping to actually drill down to those men. patrick, take it away. >> reporter: good morning again. and when people ask down the road who did this, they will talk about this small drilling operation for berlin, pennsylvania. ladies and gentlemen behind me were the small team that did it. they've been up all night drilling. how tough was this? and how did you pull it off this morning? >> well, this project was unbelievably challenging. team work, i guess, is the keyword. everyone stuck together. fought through the battles. and right there at the bitter end it seemed like the last angles we were passing through and everything. i know we looked at each other and thought is this thing ever going to give up? we need to get this thing drilled. everyone gave a good effort. >> i was talking to you this morning. you never seemed like it was in the bag. >> it wasn't in the ba

karl penhaul has been at the mine doing yeoman's work for us. let's first talk about the big news, which is we could finish this evening with at least one miner freed. >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. that's what the mines minister laurence goldbourne has promised us. he says even when it does start you have to lower five rescuers to check out the 33 medically and get them into some order as to who will come up first, who will come up last. he said, but my intention is to have at least one miner on the surface by midnight tonight, brooke. >> by midnight we could be seeing the first of these 33 men. let's talk a little bit more, karl, about this process. we've seen this capsule, what they call the phoenix. we know there are 33 guys down there. we know they're talking about putting the five fittest in first but not relieving the order. why is that? >> reporter: yeah, exactly. the fittest men but also the ones that have the most technical knowledge because they want them to give feedback to the rescuers if there are any problems with that phoenix cap

cnn's karl penhaul has been in chile since first discovered the trapped men were actually alive. karl what work fleeds to be done now and just how dangerous is all this going to be? >> reporter: -- this essentially is a breakthrough today. you saw the great pictures of that, the families celebrating. just looking at the pictures really does say it all. doesn't it? but now after this breakthrough what has to happen is that engineers will be putting a camera down that rescue shaft which is 28 inches wide as we know, and they will be checking what they call the integrity of that rescue shot. checking to see if the drill hole through that granite rock is solid enough or if there may be a risk of rock fall. if they think there is rock fall, a solution. put steel piping all the way down to the tunnel where the miners are and then once that is in place, then the rescue cage known as the phoenix capsule will be brought slowly to the surface with the miners onboard one by one. but that, if they decide to go for that option, that could take anything up to ten days before the miners are back

karl penhaul in northern chile.til the very end. >>> i'm going to introduce you to a mayor with unique insight and innovative idea to reach out to immigrants in her community. we'll meet her next. it's today's "mission possible." the turn will make you think. ♪ make you re-examine your approach. change your line. innovate. and create one of the world's fastest-reacting suspensions, reading the road 1,000 times per second. it's the turn that leads you somewhere new. introducing the new 2011 cts-v coupe. from cadillac. the new standard of the world. (voice 2) how bad is it? (voice 1) traffic's off the chart... (voice 2) they're pinging more targets... (voice 3) isolate... prevent damage... (voice 2) got 'em. (voice 3) great exercise guys. let's run it again. >>> let me bring you upto speed on some of the top stories we're following here at cnn. the obama administration is moving toward lifting its moratorium on deepwater oil and gas drilling in the gulf of mexico. the moratorium was imposed after the gulf coast oil sp

cnn carl pen hal cnn's karl penhaul is with them. >> reporter: they have to get the camera down and check ow it is, not a problem with rock falls. there there is a likelihood of rock falls, what they're going to do, put steel casing down the whole shaft of that. possibly only have to put steel casing on the first 100 yards, and the that means that the miners could be starting to be extracted, brought to the surface from monday or possibly tuesday, and that really is great news here for the families at camp hope. this is a tent village where families of the 33 miners have been camped out ever since that mine caved in on august 5th. you should have seen the scene this morning. there were cars here, sirens up on the rig that started to blair. a bell started to chime assess well. the time, 8:05. that was the moment that the drill bit broke through to the tunnel where the miners were. you can see some of the scenes from the family members. they broke into hugs, first of all, and then they started to cheer and then a few moments later, the realization that the final countdown had begun, and tha

right there on the scene for us, cnn's karl penhaul live with the latest. karl. >> reporter: john, they've been going at this, now, i guess for more than 20 hours. as each miner comes up, the whole process seems to speed up. in fact, initially, the mines minister believed it would take one hour per miner between 33 hours in total, right up to 48 hours. but in fact what they're telling us now is this rescue mission is going so well that it could all be wrapped up by midnight. all 33 minors could be back on the surface after 70 days under ground. and in the course of the day and in the course of last night and as we go into another night, we have seen some amazing scenes, some emotional scenes. yes, on the one hand, the technical aspects of this rescue mission seem to be running like they were on rails. seem to be a matter of routine now. the rescuers have really got noon their stride. but that's where the routine stops. because as every miner steps out of that phoenix 2 rescue capsule, every emotion is different. there are family reunions. different members o

karl penhaul is still in chile. the operation could begin tonight, right, karl?r: yeah, exactly. just before we came on air, kyra, i was talking to a source close to the rescue operation, and she says the start time could even be brought forward a few hours, so we could be looking as early as 8:00 p.m. local time and 7:00 p.m. eastern time tonight. of course, it's going to take a long time. that phoenix capsule, rescue capsule can move from the mine up to the surface in about ten minutes but they have to load the miner on board safely and make sure he understands the audio and video controls there so he has constant communication with the surface, make sure he feels comfortable with the oxygen supply coming in there and also the safety harness and understands any emergency measures. that could slow up the time a little bit. all in all, if you do the math, what the government has given us for the travel time of the phoenix capsule, you could be talking about 15, 16 hours for all 33 miners to come up, but, of course, the government is giving us a much longer time,

karl penhaul, cnn. >> what an incredible story that is. want to go now to reynolds wolf.he celebrations there? >> amazing story we needed. no question about it. very happy story. not over yet. let's certainly keep our good thoughts for all our good friends in that part of the world. going from dry deserts in south america to the rainy midwest. we've got not one but two storm systems that will take a bead on the northwest, namely washington and oregon. pounding surf on the coastline, strong wind gusts, too. in terms of when all is said and done you could have nearly eight inches of rainfall in certain spots. it will be interesting to see if that scenario plays out in the pacific northwest. when you pull back to the east, what we'll be dealing with is scattered showers in the northern plains in the central and northern rockies. also some snow may pop up. snow accumulation will be around three inches near spring boat springs. not a heavy snowfall but the first of the season. back to the great lakes, it is going to be spectacular. in the southeast dry for you. also going to s

karl penhaul joins us from chile this morning. and you can feel the anticipation building here. >> reporter: well, john, we have been here for seven weeks now watching this rescue operation unfold. and i have never seen things moving as fast as they are now. look over my shoulder there where you can see the lights. and that is where the rescue, where the extraction point is going to be. and things, as you say, everything is a go. the steel encasing is in place, the cement platform, we're told the cement has dried. and then we saw video of one of those test runs of the phoenix capsule, a capsule that is going to haul these men back to the surface. and that was dropped down, right down to the depth of almost 2,000 feet. and you can see they've attached the camera on it as it went down that shaft. it's going to be a tight fit, but you can bet as each miner comes up that shaft, it's going to be the ride of their lives. >> what's left to do? what are they waiting for before they send that capsule down there, i guess, with a paramedic a

cnn's karl penhaul joining us from copiapo, chile. karl, every single miner who comes up, the emotion is just as strong as the first one. >> reporter: absolutely. and i think now we're going to be looking in the next few moments at yonni bearrios. he has a special place at camp hope where the families have camped out. we've all heard the salacious stories about his wife and girlfriend. that said those close to his family say he left his wife some time ago and moved in with his mistress. but really what the families here are grateful for is the fact that yonni barrios had paramedics training. he was the explosive expert on the shift on august 5th that got trapped but he also had paramedic training. when the rescuers found that shift alive 17 days later he was nominated as the doctor in the mine. and that really has led his companions, as you mentioned, to call him jokingly in the videos they've sent up dr. house after the u.s. tv series. but it is he who helped carry out the blood test and urine tests. he's checked the daily vital sign

karl penhaul is at the mine in chile. karl, before we bring anyone up from that mine, we have got to send a few people down. lift ton me, like i'm part of the process here. walk us through that process, if you would. >> reporter: absolutely, but i think you're no different from anybody else, tony. i think a lot of our viewers from across the world have been absorbed by this story from day one. i often get facebook messages or e-mails from individual families asking what's going on with the families. to bring you up to speed with what has to go on, before the first miner is brought to the surface, that phoenix capsule has to be lowered down four times with two rescue experts aboard and two paramedics, and they will check out the miners' health and determine the batting order. what we hear from our rescue experts now is that the rescue operation could be brought forward a few hours, possibly eight hours from now, about an hour after dark here in the chilean desert, but as the preparations gather pace, of course, the pressure

karl penhaul, one of our team members at the site. he's got the latest right now. let's go right to him. karl, what's the latest that we are hearing? we are on rescue 18, we understand. >> reporter: rescue 18. and we have now been in this rescue mission 14 hours and 4 minutes. that means the rescuers are a little bit ahead of schedule. initially the mines minister calculated it would take a total of one hour to extract each miner. so we're a little bit ahead. but still with the rate that they're going, it still looks like we're going well into tonight, possibly until the wee small hours of tomorrow morning with this rescue. let me tell you about miner 18. rojas, the man coming up next. and you said it a little bit before. but while he has been underground, he, like many of the other miners, had a lot of time to think. and he has been with his partner, jessica, for many years. 25 years, i believe. she told me. and in one of the first letters that he sent back up to the surface, he said, i've been rethinking this. he said we've been together for so long, let's do this

karl penhaul for us this morning. karl, thanks. >>> now to a cnn security watch.high-level meetings are underway between hamid karzai's government in afghanistan and the taliban. sources tell the paper that the taliban is very serious about finding a way out and ending the war and that the people at the table speak for afghan's taliban leader mohammed omar. ivan watson with the latest from kabul this morning. >> reporter: like so many things involving afghanistan, pakistan, and the taliban militants who operate on both sides of the two country's borders, reports about these alleged negotiations are quite murky. here is what we know. according to a number of afghan high-level government sources, they're describing this as a "nongovernmental conference between afghan and pakistani figures." we know some former afghan government officials and current officials have been involved in the talks taking place in kabul in recent days. one of the participants, according to one afghan source, is a former taliban official who served time in guantanamo bay in the detention cen

. >> want to bring up karl penhaul now, who was first on the scene, got there days after they were found first drill came through and the miners attached a note to it, and we have some pictures of the note, the president of chile held up the note, what did the note say? and did the people who were drilling know that they were alive? or were they just kind of seeing what would happen? >> no, they had no knowledge, or in fact after all this period, 17 days, and the difficulties it was sending the probe into the mine, one of the reasons, the difficulties of putting that probe into the mine and locating exactly the refuge area was because the mine map supplied by the mining company was so out of date they didn't know where the refuge was, according to those maps. so really it was sticking a whole series of different probes into that hillside, the proverbial needle in the hey stack. so after the 17 days they came up to the refuge. they didn't know if the men were alive. so what the men did was bang, bang, bang on the side of that drill to send a vibration up the tube. they painted the tip of

cnn's karl penhaul joining us from outside the mine. karl?ter: certainly feels like the beginning of the end, fredericka, but there have been problems with the three drills that you can see there behind me. they have been working around the clock to get down to these miners half a mile underground but over the last 24, 48 hours all 3 of them had problems. some of them routine. had to change hammers and bits and another one, the leading drill, the one only about 500 feet from the miners right now, that ran into problems running into extra hard rock and so in the course of yesterday, it only drilled about six feet. but if it does get a good day and gets passed this area very hard rock then, yes, rescuers say it could complete the distance in about three days. but then, of course, that rescue shaft will then have to be encased with a steel pipe and at least part of the distance. that just to shore it up and make sure there are no rock falls at the last minute and then only once that's in place can the cage be dropped down and start process of pu

cnn's karl penhaul joins us from outside the mine and, karl, this is amazing when you think about theake up until, what? the end of the december, around christmas to get the miners, to get to the miners. now we are talking about possibly, what? by the end of the weekend? >> reporter: well, you are right. that was the initial forecast, wasn't it, tony? sometime before christmas but there is good news. we have heard that the leading drill, the plan "b" drill one you can make out behind me in the last 12 hours has cut through 160 feet of rock. that means there's only 220 feet to go to break through to get right through into that tunnel where the miners are. now, if you calculate that in 12 hours that drill bit went 160 feet, within the next 24 hours there could be breakthrough into the tunnel and then the government says that plan "b" drill will be taken offline for a while while some maintenance is carried out. while they put a camera down into the rescue shaft that's been drilled so far to test a little bit the integrity of that hole. and so, very much seems that the government knows v

you know what, karl penhaul is now being debriefed on cnn international, our sister network and let'so see what karl is saying. >> reporter: but now 27 miners back on the surface, and it looks like the fight against death has been won. and now franklin lobos the 1970s and 1980s chilean soccer star turned miner hugging sebastian p pinier who is the now at the tent where his family has spent the last 70 days waiting for him, and we saw as the rescue capsule came up the rescue shaft, they were launching confetti and throwing streamers and when he finally made it to the surface, hugs all around. as they say, in the chilean tv entitling this, franklin lobos wins the most important match of his life. >> all right. that's karl penhaul on the scene for us. you see he is on that gurney now as the other 26 miners are, and he will be taken in for some medical exams and make sure that everything is good. he has the sunglasses on to protect his retinas after almost 70 days underground. they need the protection and it is still daylight over there in chile. we will stay on top of this, and we will w

cnn's karl penhaul covering the story. he's joining us live with the latest. this is great news.reporter: it certainly is great news and certainly the feeling among family members up here on the surface in this area where think eve been camped out now for 63, 64 days, the area they call camp hope, there's an expectation this really is the beginning of the end. the latest figures we have had from the drill teams is that there are less than 180 feet away from the miners and that means that technically if the current speeds are kept up, the breakthrough could come, in fact, sometime today although officially the mine's minister is saying it will be tomorrow but i've got my suspicions because the chilean first lady will be here in afternoon to meet the families and what a moment that would be if she were here at the same time as breakthrough happened. but one of my questions to families has been, you know, how are you feeling in these final moments? and also, how is this agonizing wait been? and this is what one of the wives had to say. >> translator: this is an eternal wait but i mu

our karl penhaul joins us live from the scene where the work is going on. t.j., we certainly get the impression here that the beginning of the end is upon us, and talking to one of the drill engineers last night, he said that drill bit was just 180 feet away from the miners. now, taking into account that drill has been going all night and continues round the clock, we could be in literally the final few feet now. in fact, over my shoulder, there is a red rig now in place which will be used to possibly put steel casing down part of that rescue shaft to make it more stable. that will also be used to hoist the rescue cage dubbed the phoenix capsule up to the surface but as the rescue operation proceeds, anxiety amongst the families increases. day fades into another night. [ saying prayers ] but at last, the anguished wait may be drawing to a close for families of the 33 trapped miners. waiting is like a bad itch that bothers you every minute of every day. you get a knot in your stomach thinking this is the final phase. the only thing i want to do is take my hus

karl penhaul is near the town and, karl, what is the latest plan at this point? >> well, if you can see behind me over my shoulder there, there is the golden copper mine and that is where right now some of the cranes there on site are pushing in and 96 yards of steel tubing into the first part of that rescue shaft. now, they're dog that just to minimize the chance that any rocks could fall on that rescue cage, the phoenix capsule as it's bringing the miners back to the surface, one by one. of course, the question on everybody's lips is when will we see the first miner back on the surface. let's let the mine minister answer that for us. >> the operations should start during wednesday, that is what we are expecting now and the whole process should take something in the range of 48 hours. i mean, two days from the first rescue to the last rescue guy going out, including the rescuers. and then we have to send some people down and, obviously, we have to take them out, too. >> now, 12 hours before each of those miners begins emerging into the surface, they'll be put on

. >> cnn's karl penhaul has been on the story from the start and joins me now on the phone with what ope. how close are they now? >> reporter: well, a short while ago, a press conference just ended. 120 feet. that is the distance between the drill and the tunnel where the miners have been holed up for all this time, t.j. and what the mines minister says is the breakthrough could come as early as today and he hopes certainly by tomorrow. >> okay. hey, sorry. we may have lost a little bit there. so, listen, what we understand is that the hole that they're drilling is 28 inches wide. the capsule that they're going to put them in, 21 inches wide. as we understand there, they've been trying -- they've gotten a trainer in and doctor in. many of these men had to lose weight, some of them 20 pounds. are they really sure everyone will be able to fit in something the size of a 21 inch pipe really? >> reporter: right now the medics on the surface are pretty confident that all the miners will fit. why? because early on in this rescue operation as they were sending down tape measures so the miners

. >> larry: before we get back to michael moore, let's get to the san jose mine and karl penhaul is thereendously on this for so many days. what's the scene like? >> reporter: absolutely tremendous scenes there, larry. the last miner out of the hole. luis urzua, now there is a man that understands his duty. there's a man who understands his responsibility. august 5th, when that mine collapsed, he was the shift foreman, and he had told the rescue workers that he wanted to make sure that all of the men on his shift were up to the surface safely before he boarded the fenix rescue capsule. and that is exactly what happened. throughout his crisis, throughout his ordeal, when the miners have sent videos to the surface, we have seen luis urzua playing the role of a silent giant, a giant not because of his size, but because of what he was doing. everywhere in those videos you saw him surrounded by diagrams and plans, mapping out a survival strategy for these 33 miners. mapping out how they would survive on four cans of tuna per man for 17 days, mapping out how they would divide the 33 men in 3 wo

. >> i want to bring you our karl penhaul who was the first on the scene for us.he first drill that came through and the miners attached a note to it, and we have some pictures of the note, the president of chile held up the note. what did the note say and did the people who were drilling know that they were alive or were they just kind of seeing what would happen? >> reporter: no, they had no knowledge or, in fact, after all this period, 17 days and the difficulties it was sending a probe into the mine, one of the reasons of the difficulties of putting that probe into the mine and locating exactly the refuge area was because the mine map supplied by the mining company was so out of date, they didn't know where the refuge was according to those maps. so really it was sticking a whole series of different probes into that hillside, the proverbial needle in the haystack. so after the 17 days they came up to the refuge, they didn't know if the men were alive. so what the men did is bang, bang, bang on the side of that drill with a spanner to send a vibration up the tu

cnn's karl penhaul is on the scene for us. all right. , the latest we know from rescue experts just as the sun is going down here over the desert, and the rescue site behind us is that the drill bit is 120 feet from the tunnel where the miners have been now for 64 days. the experts, the rescuers say that the breakthrough could come in the next few hours. now, whether that is tonight or in the wee small hours of tomorrow, but certainly nobody is predicting this is going to go beyond tomorrow. so, tomorrow, it could be a breakthrough and also kind of a hint that something is about to happen. chile's first lady has arrived here as well. she says she has come to spend some time with the families, but of course, it would be great for her if she could be here when breakthrough happens, and we have heard just now, she's just been talking to journalists saying that she has met with the families, and she has told them and given them a little touchy and feely advice and saying to them, you know, when your husbands and loved ones start to come back

we have this whole story covered with cnn's karl penhaul. karl, straight to the time line issue. is it true? could these guys be getting out of there here within days? >> reporter: absolutely, brooke, because as you say 120 feet, that was the latest fig that the experts have given us, the distance between the drill and the roof of the tunnel where the miners are holed up. what's then going to take place? what goes on in a time line after that, after the breakthrough is the engineers then decide over the space of about 24 hours whether they've got to encase, put steel encasing the whole lengths of that rescue shaft. now, that would be to prevent rock falls. but talking to some of the technicians back and forth who have been around this area, they say they think they're only going to have to encase the first 100 yards. and that will mean that the miners could be coming out of that hole between two and eight days after that rescue shaft is finally drilled and that will certainly be good news for the miners of course but also for the families who have had such an anxious wait. brooke

right now this capsule has been lowered and it's empty, karl penhaul reporting that they may presidente sandbags down there and then the rescue workers will be brought down below. is that correct? >> reporter: anderson, i hear you. that is absolutely correct. one of the things that we must mention to you, this is an incredible trauma. it's 33 separate traumas happening over 24 to 36-hour period. keep in mind, also, that on august 5th when this happened, the miners were you a lowed for 17 days before we knew that they were alive. all 33 miners have become heroes in the nation of hero. there's a man whose wife gave birth to a baby and another man and these men have become heroes and all of chile and much of the world is watching these pictures right now, anderson. >> one of the young men, who is the youngest of the miners, 19 years old, he wrote a letter to his family and in it he said, there are actually 34 of us. he was talking about down in the mine. there are actually 34 of us. he said because god has never left us down here alone. we'll be back with gary tuckman and others. a quick

now i know from karl penhaul that he was saying that five rescuers last time that he heard go down therep to bottom to top, and round trip, one hour. it will go down slower than it goes up, because the graph ti is pu -- gravity is pulling it down, and winch pulling it up, so that is going to be painstakingly slow for those men, but considering what they have been through, it will be like a ride to paradise. >> don't go away, chad, they are lifting up the capsule as the viewers from the united states and around the world can see. gary tuchman is on the scene for us. gary, are you seeing the live pictures right now, but this is the capsule, and an individual, a person will get into that capsule, and will go down to the bottom of the shaft where these 33 trapped miners have been waiting for more than two months, and then one by one, they will be brought to the top. tell us what you are seeing, and what you are hearing. i want to keep these pictures up so that our viewers can see it. gary? >> well, wolf we are seeing the pictures, too, and we have a view from the hilltop, and first time to s

our karl penhaul is following the developments live in chile for us this morning.n, that's a huge difference. >> reporter: it certainly is. you would think that not so much having been waiting all this time for more than 62 days now but now every minute is counting. the expectation is growing. really get the sense that this is the beginning of the end. when's going to happen, once this drill breaks through, now that could be tomorrow but it could also be as soon as today depending on the speeds that drill is getting. after that, the engineers have to decide whether they encase the entirety of that shaft to prevent rock falls inside or maybe just the top of it saying the top is worse conditions and lower down it is kind of a granite soft and should be able to withstand that phoenix rescue capsule. if they encase the only length, might take ten days to hoist them back to surface. going with encasing the first 100 meters, about the first 300 feet, then the miners will come out much sooner, kiran. >> that's amazing. i know that you have had a chance to talk to some of

. >> cnn's carl penhaul live for us in chile tonight. thank you for that, karl. >>> a dozen young women were hospitalized after overdosing at a party. police are investigating whether they were targeted for sexual assault. >>> plus, as midterm elections get closer, campaign ads are getting nastier and nastier. we'll take a closer look at some of them and whether they work. >>> don't just sit there. be a part of the conversation. join us on twitter or facebook, or check out our blog on cnn.com/don. we want to hear from you. but most of us live here. so we need the brita pitcher. for healthier, clean tasting water. so we need the brita pitcher. fifteen percent or more on car insurance? does a former drill sergeant make a terrible therapist? patient: and that's why yellow makes me sad. i tnk. sarge: that's interesting. you know what makes me sad? you do! maybe we should chug on over to mambie pambie land sawhere maybe can find some yoself-confidence for you.? ya jackwagon! tissue? crybaby. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. i'd get this