Miners make contact after 17 days underground

Chilean Trapped Miners: Miners carry an effigy of Saint Lorenzo, patron saint of miners before mass

10 August 2010: Miners carry an effigy of St Lorenzo, patron saint of miners, before a mass outside a collapsed mine where 33 miners are trapped in Copiapó, Chile Photograph: Luis Hidalgo/AP

Chilean Trapped Miners: Relatives and miners attend a mass outside the mine

10 August 2010: Relatives and miners attend a mass outside the mine Photograph: Luis Hidalgo/AP

Chilean Trapped Miners: 33 miners remain trapped in the mine of San Jose, Chile

16 August 2010: The camp installed outside the mine of San Jose, where relatives of the miners are staying Photograph: Ian Salas/EPA

Chilean Trapped Miners: Relatives of trapped miners gather at the entrance to the mine

16 August 2010: Relatives of trapped miners gather at the entrance to the San Esteban gold and copper mine Photograph: Ariel Marinkovic/AFP/Getty Images

Chilean Trapped Miners: Relatives of trapped miners pray and light candles

17 August 2010: Relatives of trapped miners pray and light candles outside the San Esteban gold and copper mine Photograph: Ariel Marinkovic/AFP/Getty Images

Chilean Trapped Miners: Chilean workers operate a drilling machine at the San Esteban mine

17 August 2010: Chilean workers operate a drilling machine at the San Esteban gold and copper mine Photograph: Ariel Marinkovic/AFP/Getty Images

Chilean Trapped Miners: Chilean workers start a drilling machine

17 August 2010: Chilean workers start a drilling machine outside the San Esteban gold and copper mine 12 days after the mine collapsed Photograph: Ariel Marinkovic/AFP/Getty Images

Chilean Trapped Miners: Chile's President Sebastian Pinera reads a message from trapped miners

22 August 2010: Chile's President Sebastián Piñera holds up a plastic bag containing a message from miners trapped in a collapsed mine, that reads in Spanish "All 33 of us are well inside the shelter" in Copiapó, Chile Photograph: Hector Retamal/AP

Chilean Trapped Miners: TV grab of Florencio Antonio Avalos Silva one of 33 trapped miners in Chile

22 August 2010: TV grab taken from the Chilean National TV (TVN) of trapped miner Florencio Antonio Avalos Silva, during the first contact with a video camera after 17 days in San Esteban gold and copper mine, near Copiapó, in the Atacama desert, 480 miles north of Santiago Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images

Chilean Miners Update: Elias Sepulveda, and Katherine relatives of the trapped miners

23 August 2010: Elias Sepulveda, right, embraces her cousin Katherine next to a tribute and support site with candles, flags and messages for their relatives Esteban and Pablo Rojas, two of the 33 miners trapped at the collapsed mine San José in Copiapó, Chile Photograph: Roberto Candia/AP

Chilean Miners Update: The machine wich will be used for rescue of the 33 miners

23 August 2010: The machine which will be used for rescue of the 33 miners trapped alive in the San José mine, in Copiapó Photograph: Claudio Reyes/EPA

Chilean Miners Update: Andrea Aravena, relative of the trapped miners, lights candles

23 August 2010: Andrea Aravena, relative of one of 33 trapped miners, lights candles next to Chilean flags outside the San José collapsed mine in Copiapó Photograph: Roberto Candia/AP

Chilean Miners Update: Volunteers watch a video of Chile's Mining Minister Golborne speaking

24 August 2010: Volunteers watch a video of Chile's mining minister Laurence Golborne speaking on the telephone with one of the 33 trapped miners at Copiapó Photograph: Ivan Alvarado/Reuters

Chilean Miners Update: The camp where relatives of 33 miners wait for news outside the mine

24 August 2010: The camp where relatives of 33 trapped miners wait for news is seen outside the San José collapsed mine in Copiapó, Chile Photograph: Roberto Candia/AP