CHILE/FILE: Spain and Barcelona striker David Villa sends jerseys to miners trapped in the San Jose mine

Record ID: 189967

  • Title: CHILE/FILE: Spain and Barcelona striker David Villa sends jerseys to miners trapped in the San Jose mine
  • Date: 10th September 2010
  • Summary: POTCHEFSTROOM, SOUTH AFRICA (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SPAIN FORWARD DAVID VILLA DURING TRAINING AT WORLD CUP TOURNAMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA
  • Embargoed: 25th September 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAD0Y32DW80C7XI0T5EJK323VFQ
  • Story Text: Spanish soccer star David Villa, who comes from a mining family, sent two jerseys to the San Jose mine in northern Chile on Thursday (September 09) to show his support for workers trapped underground.
    Soccer is a solace for the miners, who have been trapped since a August 5 cave-in and stand another two to four months in a tunnel some 2300 feet (700 meters) underneath the Atacama desert.
    Among the 33 trapped is Franklin Lobos, a former professional soccer player who watched Chile play Ukraine in a friendly match on Tuesday (September 7) after rescue workers wove a fiberoptic cable down a narrow bore hole.
    The jersey's made their way to the remote mine in the hands of Cristina Cubero, the head of Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo.
    "David Villa is a striker for Spain and Barcelona, but above all he's a son, grandson and great-grandson of miners from Asturias drainage, coal mines in Spain," Cubero said.
    The shirts were singed by Villa, Spain's top goal-scorer on their way to a World Cup victory in South Africa, and one was handed over to Lobos' daughter, Carolina Lobos.
    "I thank David Villa for this gesture. It's very nice that Spain sends us a jersey or something, supporting us and encouraging us with everything that is happening, which is pretty difficult. But any gesture, whether jerseys or greetings or anything, gives them and us strength to move forward in the time they have left down there," Lobos told journalists near the camp where family members wait for their loved ones.
    The unlikely story of the miners, who survived on two mouthfuls of tuna and a glass of milk every 48 hours for over two weeks, has won them international attention. Cubero said the Spanish people are behind them.
    "(It's) signed by Villa. He's put a lot of effort into getting it here to Chile so the 33 buried miners know that David Villa, his family of Spanish miners and generally all of Spain, we are behind the miners and the Chilean people," she said.
    The other jersey was given to Orlando Cortes, whose father Pedro Cortes is trapped in the mine.
    "It's a nice gesture that gives us hope and strength," he said.
    The miners survive by food and water sent down through a narrow bore hole no wider than a grapefruit.
    Rescue workers are drilling two wider bore holes into the mine where they can pull the men out. A third drill used for oil wells is on it's way and officials hope it will speed the process and get the men out well before Christmas.
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