【英语国际】智利总统：被困矿工或在圣诞节前被救出

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said a massive rescue effort is on track to bring 33 trapped miners out of the ground by the holidays and possibly sooner, and described the men's morale as good, while one rescue drill resumed work after almost a week out of action.

In an interview Tuesday, Mr. Pinera spoke about the friendships he has developed with some of the miners and displayed the note they had attached to a drilling probe that rescuers were using to look for them: 'We are well in the shelter the 33.'

President Pinera said he thought the political momentum he has gained from progress in the rescue effort would help him advance a stalled plan to exact higher royalties from mining companies to cover the costs of rebuilding from the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that hit the country in February.

Mr. Pinera also said Chile's economy is on track to grow almost 6% this year adding that some wealthier countries enduring a less-favorable economic outlook were paying the price of having lived beyond their means. He also said that Chile will create 250,000 jobs this year with investment growing by 25%.

Mr. Pinera, a billionaire businessman who in March became Chile's first conservative president in the two decades since the end of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, has been directly involved in overseeing the effort to rescue the miners trapped a half-mile below ground in the San Jose mine. Shortly after the Aug. 5 cave-in, Mr. Pinera cut short a trip to Colombia's presidential inauguration in order to visit the mine; he has poured massive resources into the rescue. His approval rating has surged 10 points since the miners were found alive on Aug. 22, after having spent 17 days surviving on rations of tuna and milk.

Rescuers are drilling three shafts to the part of the mine where the men are holed up and then plan to hoist them up. Regarding the timetable, Mr. Pinera said 'I hope that we will be able to do it in the month of November but my commitment with the miners is that they will share with us Christmas and New Year.'

智利总统皮涅拉(Sebastian Pinera)说，正在部署一场大规模救援行动，有望在圣诞假期前救出33名被困在地下的矿工，可能还会提前，并说被困者的精神状态良好，同时一个救援孔在损坏近一周之后恢复了正常。

皮涅拉周二接受采访时提及他已经与一些矿工成了朋友，并展示了矿工们绑在救援人员用于寻找他们的钻头上的纸条，上面写着：我们33人在避难所内，全部安好。

皮涅拉说，他觉得救援行动的进展带来的政治契机将帮助他推进一个受阻的计划，向矿业公司征收更高的开采税，以弥补该国2月份发生的8.8级地震所带来的重建成本。

皮涅拉还说，智利经济今年的增长幅度预计将达到近6%，并表示一些富裕国家的经济前景不佳是在为其寅吃卯粮的发展方式付出代价。他还说，智利今年将新增25万个工作机会，投资增长25%。

皮涅拉身家上亿，是一名商人，3月份成为智利自结束皮诺切特(Augusto Pinochet)独裁统治20年来首任保守派总统。他直接参与了监督救援被困矿工的行动，矿工们被困在圣何塞煤矿地下半英里处。在8月5日煤矿塌方后，皮涅拉立即中断了参加哥伦比亚总统就职典礼的行程，以察看该煤矿；他为援助投入了大量资源。矿工们在靠有限的金枪鱼和牛奶而生存了17天后，于8月22日被人们发现他们还幸存，自那以来皮涅拉的支持率已经上升了10点。

营救人员正在矿工们栖身的煤井部分钻探三个逃生井，计划将这些矿工从这里升井。关于时间表，皮涅拉说，我希望我们能在11月份救出他们，但我向矿工们承诺，他们将和我们一起欢度圣诞节和新年。