Chilean Miners Talked Suicide, Cannibalism

Reveal details of their struggle in '60 Minutes' interview
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 11, 2011 6:26 AM CST

Trapped underground for more than two months, the Chilean miners constantly feared death and considered suicide, they tell 60 Minutes in an interview set to air this weekend. “I said to a friend, 'Well, if we are going to continue suffering, it would be better for us to all go to the refuge, start an engine and with the carbon monoxide, just let ourselves go,” said Victor Zamora. Thoughts even turned to cannibalism: "I would say five or 10 days," before we would have resorted to it to survive, says another.

Since the miners’ rescue, all but one of them have faced formidable psychological battles, doctors say. Now, some are finding it difficult to reconnect with loved ones; some are on medication to help adjust to their old lives—one takes six pills a day but still jumps at the slightest noise; another is building a wall around his home. "Before I went in, I was a happy guy," Zamora noted. Being trapped, watching my friends around me die, rocks falling ... the other me is still in there." The full segment airs Sunday.
(More Chilean miners stories.)

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