San Jose Mine (AP) - As the world watches captivated as monumental rescue efforts are underway for the 33 Chilean miners who have been trapped for more than two months after an explosion at the San Jose Mine, one Chilean miner has reportedly refused to accept rescue efforts from the hundreds of relief workers that have been working tirelessly to free the trapped miners. While by Wednesday afternoon, 24 of the 33 miners had been pulled to safety and reunited with joyous realtives and loved ones, rescue workers are reporting that 42 year old Luiz Cadamundo has refused to enter the rescue shaft which has been purposely erected and driven through 2,000 feet of stone, and has said that he "totally fine with not being rescued right now." Relief workers have also said that Luiz asked if they could "come back, maybe in a few days, or maybe even at the end of the month, if that's cool." While authorities are incredulous to why the trapped miner would want to stay buried underneath tons of unstable rock and earth, a miner who was recently rescued did come forth and offer one possible explanation as to why Cadamundo may not want to rejoin the world just yet: "Oh Luiz? Yeah, his wife is a total bitch."
"Honestly, these last 69 days have been nice," Luiz said through video chat correspondence, which had been set up for th families of the miners to maintain contactw ith their trapped loved ones. "I've been with the guys, and we've kind of had our own little Man Town here in this cave-in entrapment. I mean, sure, we don't have any NFL games or any chicken wings, but it's been fun. We're bonding. Women wouldn't understand it. I'm really not ready to leave."
At the site of the rescue, among sobbing, relived family members - even amongst reports that one of the miners may have both his mistress and his wife at the site to greet him - Luiz Cadamundo's wife Flopia cannot wait for her husband to be pulled up. "It's about time this little boys town mining party has ended for Luiz and his buddies," Flopia said last week as rescue efforts were being planned. "I find it very convenient that this whole cave-in happens just as we are getting ready to re-stain our deck. Not to mention the gutters have not been cleared in months, and we have been trying to re-wallpaper the bathrooms since the summer. I don't care that he's been in a life-threatening mine collapse and sealed off from the world for 2 months. I have been pulling double duty with 5 kids since this whole ridiculous mining collapse thing. I am really looking forward to having Luiz around again. Even though he's such an idiot, he probably caused the whole cave in himself. By being an idiot."
In talks with the mining company and Luiz's co-workers, they are not surprised that Luiz is avoiding rescue for fear of his wife's wraith. "Dude she is the biggest See You Next Tuesday we ever seen," Codelco Mining company spokesperson Consuala Deprices said in a statement. "At our company Christmas party, she berated him in front of the entire work force for drinking too much, and made him leave before we even opened the company gifts. Luiz is a model employee. He never calls in sick, probably because he doesn't want to be home with his wife all day."
When Flopia was confronted with the news that Luiz had refused rescue, she quickly commandeered one of the video chat stations that have been in operation to communicate with the still trapped miners:
"Now you listen and you listen good, Luiz Cadamundo. There are five kids here, Maria has an ear infection, and Melissa and Eddie haven't stopped fighting in days. You better get your butt up here from that mine hole or whatever and you better do it fast, or I will make sure my Mother is on the next flight out from Santiago."
Rescue officials have stated while they can't literally force Luiz to enter the capsule device they have been lowering to rescue workers out one by one, they can withhold food and medicine drops to Luiz if he continues his hold-out. In his final video chat, when Luiz was threatened with this action, he simply replied, "Fiiiiiine. Jesus Christ. I'll be right there."
-Reece contributed to this report
RSS Feed
