Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Chilean Miners Brought to Surface; Psychology of Being Trapped in a Mine

Aired October 13, 2010 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Right now there are two kinds of people in the world, people like me who have been glued to their TVs watching almost every frame of video since the first of the 33 miners in Chile was rescued last night. And there are other people who have been busy. They've been sleeping or working. And, well, you know, that's why we're here, to tell you about what else is going on.

Thirty-three miners have been trapped below the earth since August 5th. They were down there for 17 days before anyone even realized that they were alive.

The miners, who had been eating their lunch in a 500 square foot shelter when the cave-in occurred, attached a note to a search and rescue drill bit that had penetrated their shelter. The note said, "We are fine in the shelter, the 33 of us."

Last night the end of the ordeal began. The extraction has been under way for 15 hours now.

We are now past the halfway point that will go down as one of the most spectacular rescues in history. Eighteen miners rescued so far, all safe, apparently healthy. Fifteen more to go. One is on his way -- the shuttle is on the way to get the next one.

Never before have men who had been trapped so deep for so long been rescued alive. There's no parallel for this in history.

Miner 18 surfaced in just the last couple of minutes. Esteban Rojas was pulled up the 2,300 feet from their living-room-sized quarters. He immediately dropped to his knees in prayer, raised his hands to God. His wife joined him with tears streaming down her cheeks. President Obama spoke right after Esteban was pulled from the ground.

Now, you may have seen some of this. You may have been watching it along with us. But there are probably pictures you haven't seen. Here's one of them that we've only started showing you a little while ago.

This is new video from the capsule as the miners are being pulled from the ground. And check out this video. It's from deep underground where the men were trapped for 69 days.

Every now and then you see more pictures of this. This is the shelter that they have lived in. All day we've seen that Phoenix capsule, that red, white and blue capsule, arrive. It picks up a miner and it goes back to the surface.

You'll notice that the men, as they emerge, are all wearing sunglasses. They're pulled out of the ground. They haven't been seeing any light for the last 68 days, 69 days, so they have those sunglasses on to protect them.

Some of the most emotional moments have come from the miners themselves as they cheer, they cry, they greet their families and their rescuers. One handed out what appeared to be rocks to officials and rescue workers.

And we keep hearing what you might have thought was Chile's soccer chant. It goes "Chi-chi-chi-! Le-le-le!" But it's been modified a little bit to honor the miners. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Chi-chi-chi-! Le-le-le! Viva Chile!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: That gentleman you see -- you can't see him right now, but he's been in a lot of these shots. He is Chile's president, Sebastian Pinera. He's been around all night, all day, greeting the rescued miners.

The minister of mining is there. He's hoping that tonight will be a huge celebration around the world once the miners are out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN PINERA, CHILE PRESIDENT (through translator): And I hope that tonight is going to be an explosion of happiness and joy. I know that tonight there are going to be tears of happiness in all Chilean homes.

And I also know, as I have been able to see with my own eyes, that the whole world is going to share this joy of these 33 miners and the 33 million Chileans. We're going to have an unforgettable night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: President Obama is watching the Chilean miners rescue as well. He spoke about it just a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This rescue is a tribute not only to the determination of the rescue workers and the Chilean government, but also the unity and resolve of the Chilean people, who have inspired the world. And I want to express the hopes of the American people that the miners who are still trapped underground will be returned home safely as soon as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: All right. Let's go right to Chile, to the Copiapo Regional Hospital in Copiapo, Chile. That's where our Patrick Oppmann is. It's also where the miners go right after they're first evaluated on site.

When they come out they are flown by helicopter. It's about 15 minutes away from the mining site. And that's where they've all come in.

Nobody has come out yet, Patrick. What's the situation at that hospital?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN ALL PLATFORM JOURNALIST: Nobody has come out. We just had another helicopter land the last half an hour or so.

We're waiting for a briefing this afternoon to find out exactly how many miners are here. There were five this morning. I think we just got another four or so.

You want to hear a cool detail though about this story? Last night, when they were flying the first runs in from the mine, it was very dark, obviously. And the helicopter pilots turned to rescue officials and said, we're a little concerned where we're flying these low helicopters using our night vision goggles. And there's this road that goes up to the mine. People drive up on it, they have their brights on, it could be a little distracting to us as we're flying along with the night vision.

So officials said, you know what? We'll close the road. That's how important it is.

They're closing this road from this mining town of Copiapo up to that mine. The road remains closed today because they could drive some of these men down by ambulance, so they want to keep that road clear.

We've seen people gathering here all day today, just some neighbors and friends of the miners who wanted to come by and at least be close to them. Others are family members who, upon leaving the hospital, Ali, said that their loved ones are in great shape, that they're really doing very well. They're very happy to be here, and they're certainly happy to have some place to come and visit them.

Behind me here, the hospital, on the second and fourth floors, those are the floors reserved for the miners. You know, on August 5th, Ali, they thought they had a potential mining tragedy of really unprecedented proportions, and they were told to prepare for that tragedy, thought they would be bringing hurt and injured miners in.

Well, actually, now, like the rest of us, they waited two months, and it's incredible stroke of luck for the miners in the hospital, because they've prepared. They've brought in more equipment. They've brought in more doctors. And they've really redone this hospital.

And I know you're a business guy, Ali, so you'll probably appreciate a local trying to do well. And all day long we've been seeing the first souvenirs of this story. For just a mere $2, you can buy a flag with all the miners' names on it, and it says, "Salimos Vivos," "We Got Out Alive."

So, already, the wheels of commerce are spinning. We've heard about books in the works, movies in the works. And on a much smaller scale, the guy selling flags door to door, live location to live location, is making a little bit more money for his family today as a result of this just wonderful, wonderful story that's touched so many people.

VELSHI: OK, Patrick. I'd love to read the book. I'd love to see the movie. But I heard something about how these guys have decided that they've got a vow of silence about everything that went on for the last 69 days.

OPPMANN: You know, we've heard that, and I'm not sure -- Mario Sepulveda, last night, was in on that vow, because he was very effusive when he got to the top, handing out rocks, as I said, to officials, talking on Chilean national TV.

We'll just have to see, because what we've heard, that as of yesterday, they were taking lessons on talking to the media. So there's a lot of different information coming out about what's going to happen.

They of course have not come out yet and talked to us. We're very eager to hear their stories, because from the people who have had -- you know, the doctors who've talked to them over the last weeks over that video conference system, they keep telling us, you haven't heard the half of it, that we don't even know the story yet, Ali, and that the truth of what went down on this mine, the heroism that -- in -- as he put it, you ain't seen nothing yet.

So we're sort of waiting for that day, waiting to hear the rest of the story.

VELSHI: I want to know what was going on, on the other side of the picture. We've got our story. We know what was going on, on top of the mine. We want to know what was going on underneath.

Patrick, thanks a million. Great reporting. We'll talk to you a little later.

Patrick Oppmann, part of our team in Chile.

We've got a pretty strong team there. We're going to follow each one of these.

There you go. That's a live picture. The capsule is back down underground. They are loading the 19th person, or they're getting ready to load the 19th person, Pablo Amadeos Rojas Villacorta.

He's 45 years old, also a carrier pigeon handler. He is the cousin of the guy who just got rescued.

We're going to talk about him when we come back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. I was talking to Leroy Chiao a few minutes ago. By the way, we're looking at live pictures there of the mine. The 19th guy -- Kelly (ph), is he in the shuttle? Is he in the Phoenix yet?

OK. You know, the government keeps changing the picture. They're doing a great job of it, but we don't know -- there he is. There's the capsule. It looks like they are still going Pablo Amadeos Rojas Villacorta in there.

Once he's in and it starts moving, it takes about 11 or 12 minutes. But boy, that is a little tight space.

I know you've probably all heard about it, but in case you haven't, let me just show it to you. That capsule there that you're seeing on TV, we made a model of it here just to give you some sense of the scale and scope of it.

As we talked to a gentleman an hour ago who's responsible for drilling, we found out that they had a drill on site. That's why they got a hole that was 28 inches. They could have had a bigger drill, but it would have taken them longer to get it, so this is the size of the hole they had.

So they had to make sure the guys got skinny enough to be able to get into it. This is 22 inches. All right? This is 22 inches, and I'm about as big a guy as can comfortably fit into this thing.

This is what they sit in for up to 15 minutes as they get brought from the base of the mine to the top of it. And I suppose after 69 days in that mine, 15 minutes in there isn't going to be the worst thing in the world for you. It would be the worst thing in the world for me, because I'm a little bit claustrophobic. I can't even imagine what that's like.

Leroy Chiao is with me. He's a former NASA astronaut in Houston.

He was telling us this story last hour, and he's told us before, about how he got stuck in space for several months. They knew he was there. He knew they were coming to get him. But it was not in his control. He had a little more space to himself up there on the International Space Station.

But Leroy, your experts from NASA -- NASA experts were consultants to these -- to this rescue mission. What is it that people from NASA can help -- could have done? What did they help do with this mine rescue?

LEROY CHIAO, FMR. ASTRONAUT: Well, of course, NASA, flying long- duration missions, is very interested in how to keep astronauts healthy both from just a medical standpoint, as well as from a psychosocial standpoint. And so they had a lot to offer -- advice on what to do, even though the situations were not totally the same.

Obviously, these guys were in a survival situation, an emergency situation. But there are a lot of similarities.

One of them is you have got to keep the crew busy. You have got to have enough to do.

I mean, when we were up on the space station, we were busy every minute of the day. And it was a good thing, because even though we were comfortable and it was a comfortable environment, you'd go a little bit stir crazy if you didn't have enough to do.

The same with these guys underground. I mean, they're in a survival situation. And you have got to keep them motivated. And one of the first things they teach you in survival school is that you've got to keep improving your environment, keep working on your shelter, because you can make yourself more comfortable, and also keep your mind from going places you don't want it to go.

VELSHI: Yes, I guess that's what it is. I mean, when I feel a little claustrophobic, it's because I start thinking about things that could happen even though they're not entirely likely to happen.

Dr. Larry Palinkas is a medical anthropologist at the University of Southern California, joining us from San Diego.

Larry, tell me if we're making more than we should be or less than we should be about what happens to these guys now that they're out. I mean, in my mind, the worst is definitely over for them. They may have certain issues that they've got to face, but it can't be worse than being stuck in that shelter a half a mile underground.

DR. LARRY PALINKAS, MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGIST: -- aspect of this experience has been the last two months, and most notably the first 18 days, when there was absolutely no contact with the surface. They're actually moving into a new phase.

Initially, what you're going to be seeing is elation, joy, all the wonderful scenes that you've been viewing over the screens being broadcast from Chile. And that's likely to continue, at least in the short term.

However, eventually, all of that attention and focus that's currently being given to them is going to gradually diminish. And at that point they're going to be asking themselves, OK, what now, where do I go from here?

For some of them who have been experiencing post-traumatic stress, there's going to be the need for long-term care and treatment, and the ability to adjust is going to be compromised for these individuals. For others, the new phase will actually be substantially better than what they've been going through, because they'll have come out of this experience with a renewed or improved sense of self, with a greater sense of confidence, and ability to handle any situation, much less the ones they've been through.

VELSHI: Hey, Leroy, when you were stuck in the space station, if I recall correctly from one of our previous conversations, you were the only American or the only English speaker. The other guys were Russians. Mission control was in Russian.

Did you end up -- I mean, is it like a Stockholm Syndrome thing? Do you become buddies with these folks that you're stuck with who maybe you weren't buddies with before?

CHIAO: Well, actually, the situation was that we had both an American and a Russian on board. I was there with a Russian crewmate, and I had learned to speak Russian and he had learned to speak English. And we were working with the two control centers, so we could all talk to each other.

But we became very close during training. And we trained together for three-and-a-half years. We learned each other's languages. So, in a sense, you're right, you do kind of bond with the person, especially if you're in an emergency situation, a survival situation like these guys down in the mine were -- or still are.

VELSHI: Guys, you look on the right side of the picture, what you're seeing, that's the top of the hole. We have just seen that shuttle, the capsule, the Phoenix capsule, go into the hole, leaving the mine.

We're guessing 15 minutes or so before the next rescue. And that will be Pablo Rojas, 45 years old. He's a carrier pigeon handler, and he will be the 19th person rescued from that mine.

Stay with us. I'll bring you some of the other stories that we're working on. It feels like this is the only story around, but there's a lot going on in the world. And I'm going to tell you about that right after the break.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Let me bring you up to speed with what we're looking at right now. We're following the rescue of the miners, 33 trapped underground in Chile for 69 days.

That's the rig on top of it. See the top of that thing? There's a wheel. That's the wheel of the winch.

It's rotating clockwise, which means the capsule, the Phoenix capsule -- Phoenix, of course, a bird that rose from its own ashes -- this capsule rising from the mine. That means it's on its way up 2,300 feet.

We saw -- some time ago, we saw the 19th miner, Pablo Rojas -- Pablo Amadeos Rojas Villacorta, 45 years old, get into the capsule underground. We saw that live.

He's a carrier pigeon handler just like his cousin, Esteban Rojas, who was rescued just moments ago. Pablo, he helps oversee the coming and going of packages to the mine. And he is married for 21 years. He's got one son.

He has two cousins, by the way, in the mine. They've both been rescued already.

Victor Segovia was miner number 15 who was rescued. Esteban Rojas was number 18. He's the last of the family to get out there.

I just got something on my Twitter account -- on my Facebook, where somebody said, "How did they choose the order in which they go out?" Well, we had actually discussed this.

The first few guys to get out had great technical knowledge, so when they got to the top, they could report back on any problems with the actual capsule. After that, they took the sickest guys out, the people who were most in need of help, who had pre-existing conditions. And then they're working their way out through the bottom.

The last to come out, number 33, will be the guy who was sort of the self-appointed captain -- or they appointed him sort of the leader of the group. And like the captain, he's coming out last.

There are also five rescuers down there. We heard the mining minister say he's going to send a sixth person down to relieve some of them, although that means that one of the rescuers is going to come up in place of one of the miners.

So we don't quite know exactly what's going on there. We'll find out very shortly.

The best moment -- one of the best moments here was the rescue of Mario Gomez. A lot of people are calling him "Super Mario."

He's the oldest of the miners. He is 63 years old.

I don't know if we have that video. Do we have that, Kelly (ph), that we can show?

All right. When he got out, he hugged his wife, he dropped to his knees to pray. Other miners had sort of turned to him as their kind of spiritual leader as the older guy.

He had been a miner for more than 50 years. He was thought to be in the most danger in terms of his health. He's had persistent lung problems for years, apparently from working in the mine.

And if I'm not mistaken, he said that there's no chance he's going into a mine again. Another one of the miner's wife said that on his behalf. She said, no more mining, we're done.

I want to show you -- there's the mine. See, I showed you that wheel on the top. That's supposed to be turning clockwise.

This is the first time I have seen it -- OK. There it goes. It's started moving again. It looks like it might have stopped. Remember, this is not a straight hole. It's through rock. There was rock crumbling. There were pieces of rock crumbling. So there are chances that this thing can get stuck for a moment or two.

You can see the family there looking with great relief at the fact that that wheel has started moving again. That's the mining minister in the red shirt right there. The guy on the right, in the black jacket, is obviously a family member of Pablo Rojas. They're only allowing a couple of family members per person.

There we go. There is Pablo, number 19, emerging from the hole. This is the 19th miner to be rescued of 33. It leaves 14 more to go.

Pablo Amadeos Rojas, 45 years old. He's a carrier pigeon handler. As you know, they use carrier pigeons because they are more sensitive to air quality than humans.

Carrier pigeons will tell you if the air quality has deteriorated to the point that it is not usable. In many mines they don't use carrier pigeons. They use electronic means of monitoring the air.

But this guy and his cousin were both carrier pigeon handlers. He's been married for 21 years. He's got one son. I think that's his son who we were just looking at in the black jacket.

He is the last of three cousins to be rescued from this mine. Rescue number 15 was his cousin, Victor Segovia. Rescue number 18 was his cousin Esteban Rojas.

This is rescue number 19. Let's listen in.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pablo!

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pablo!

(APPLAUSE)

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

VELSHI: All right. You saw Pablo Rojas embracing his son. He is the last of three cousins to be rescued there. That is the son, the gentleman in front of him in the red shirt is the mining minister who has been there along with the president the whole time. And we are seeing the son being congratulated. Pablo Rojas has been transported to the clinic where he'll be evaluated, and then every few guys, they put them on a helicopter and ship them out to a hospital that's about 15 minutes' flight away from there.

All right. So, what we'll see shortly is they'll be lowering the capsule back down to go in for number 20. There are 14 miners left.

And, Kelly, I hear you saying something to me, but I can't hear what it is.

All right. Leroy Chow is with us. Leroy, you can't help when you -- but when you see these guys emerge, doesn't really matter whether you're not interested in this story or not or whether you think you know everything about it. That's just really remarkable to see that. Tell me, what's the similar experience for you, for an astronaut? Tell me what the emotion is when they get out there. I almost expected them to be more subdued, confused even, disoriented. They just seemed thrilled.

LEROY CHOW, ASTRONAUT: Absolutely. And I'm not surprised by that, because they've been looking forward to this for a long time, and they've been in a survival situation. They've been in constant risk. There could have been more cave-ins, could have been more problems. Really remarkable they're in as great a shape as they appear to be.

But I'm not surprised by their reaction. There are a lot of similarities. Actually, I was just thinking about it, and you were talking a little bit earlier about how small that capsule is, and the Soyuz spacecraft that I flew on to go to the international space station is pretty small, too. I remember climbing in there as you were describing the capsule and thinking, boy, it's a good thing I'm not claustrophobic because if I were, this would bring it out.

Also, I noted that it takes about ten minutes to get the capsule up from the mine floor, up to the surface of the earth, which is about how long it took for us to get from the launch pad up into space. And like I said, it was almost exactly six years ago right now that I was getting suited up to go fly aboard that Soyuz spacecraft.

VELSHI: Leroy, it's always get to get your input into this. As much as you keep pointing out -- and you're very generous in doing so -- that your experience wasn't the same as these miners. There were distinct differences. There's the similarity, and that's why NASA was involved because it's people trapped in isolation somewhere where they are -- for all their abilities and all they have prepared them for what they do, it's out of their control.

The slight difference with astronauts, however, is astronauts are trained almost exclusively for everything that can go wrong as opposed to everything that can go right, whereas miners have a primary job, and that is mining with emergency training.

CHOW: Right. And I'm sure these guys have received some survival training, emergency procedure training naturally. But there's nothing like the real thing. You get this emergency cave-in, this survival situation. And they pull together as a team.

And I'm very impressed with what I've seen as I've followed the stories over the last 69 days of the leadership that's come through and the teamwork, the way they've kind of structured themselves and seemed to have worked very well with the quote/unquote "mission control center" up on the surface.

So, the parallels are there. And they seem to have come through remarkably well.

VELSHI: Leroy, we will keep on checking in with you as this develops. A bit of a shout-out to my buddies Chad Myers and John Roberts, both of who have covered this very extensively. I've expressed a remarkable curiosity on air about why there are carrier pigeons still used in mines. The carrier pigeon is the nickname for the device that was used to -- to carry supplies in. You remember there were really narrow tubes initially before they had the big hole? The carrier pigeons were the tubes that carried stuff from the surface to the bore holes. That's why there are all these carrier pigeon guys. Nine in total.

So, thanks to Chad and John -- at least I know a couple of guys watch me -- for clearing that up for me. There are no real birds involved in these things. They do use electronic monitoring that I suspected that they did. I didn't think anybody still used pigeons to figure out what was going on in the mines.

OK. Other big story we're following, 20 days until the midterm elections. It's debate day in Delaware. It's a small state with a very big and influential political match-up. You might want to be watching that debate tonight because it's going to make a difference to the entire national government. We'll take you there for a preview right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Let's turn now to politics. Twenty days until the election. CNN is hosting the Delaware Senate debate tonight. Wolf Blitzer and Gloria Borger join us from Newark, Delaware. Wolf, I know somebody is going to tweet me and say why do you call it New Ark, Delaware? But it's not Newark.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Newark, New Jersey. New-ark, Delaware. We're here on the campus, Ali, of the University of Delaware. Behind me, Mitchell Hall. That's where the debate will be tonight 7:30 p.m. Eastern . After "THE SITUATION ROOM," Gloria is here.

It's exciting. The campus is excited. Two good candidates. We'll see what they have to say. Christine O'Donnell and Chris Coons. A lot of emotion going into this debate. A lot of people want a sense of who these two candidates are.

VELSHI: Wolf, you're going to have a bit of an issue on your hands in that this is -- Senate debates in a state are often about the state and senators are often national politicians. But in this case, this debate has two sides to it. One is the national politics of Christine O'Donnell winning this, and the other is the local politics. She's going to be attacking Chris Coons on tax increases. Is he going to touch her history of the strange things that she's said?

BLITZER: That's a good question. Let's bring Gloria into this conversation as well. I think it's a sensitive issue, the whole witchcraft issue as county executive raising taxes. and also when he was in college he called in one article "a bearded Marxist," so there's a lot of history there. I know I'm going to deal with the substantive economic issues -- jobs, taxes, national security issues. But they have stiff challenges, both of them.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, she has to reintroduce herself to the people of Delaware. She's done the ad saying "I am not a witch." I think she has to get beyond that, Wolf, and be more substantive and let them know more about her on policy and present herself as somebody who is really a credible candidate.

And, you know, so far she's been introduced to the people of Delaware in a very, very odd way, I think we would agree. And as for her opponent, he cannot attack her, nor does he have to attack her really on anything other than substance. Her introduction has already been bad enough, quite honestly, in the state. He needs to hang back and deal with her on the serious policy issues and show their differences. And if I were Coons, I would stick to policy and not the personal stuff.

BLITZER: And Ali, just to be precise here, Chris Coons, even though he's ahead in all of these polls -- and we're going to have a brand new CNN/"Time" magazine poll coming out at 5 p.m. Eastern right at the top of "THE SITUATION ROOM" and see what the latest numbers are.

Even though in all of the polls, he's way ahead in all of the polls, let's not forget she beat in a Republican primary Mike Castle, who is a legend here in the state of Delaware. No one thought she could do that. She beat him. So you can't simply write her off. She's got challenges ahead of her, but she's proven she can win these kinds of elections.

BORGER: Right. And what both of them are going to try to do tonight, Wolf, is appeal to the middle in this state because that's so important in this state. Those moderate Republicans, those moderate Democrats, those independent swing voters which she, quite frankly, given the polls that we've seen so far -- she's behind double-digits -- she's had problems attracting those independent voters. That's what she's got to do tonight. She's got to try and move a little bit more to the center, and he's got to prove to independents that he's not a wild-eyed liberal.

BLITZER: He's got to prove, Ali, that he's not simply going to rubber-stamp whatever the Democratic leadership in the Senate or what the president, President Obama wants to do. That he has an independent streak as well. I think that's one of his goals tonight. We'll see how he does. We'll see how she does as well. It's going to be -- I'm sure it will be a good, lively debate.

VELSHI: We're going to be watching it.

BORGER: She's gone from being an unknown to a national figure in less than a month.

VELSHI: Yes. Yes. In record time.

BLITZER: That's what happens. VELSHI: All right. Both of you, thanks very much. Gloria, great to see you. Wolf, good luck tonight. We'll be watching, and we will be riveted to it. Delaware, the Senate debate tonight, CNN live coverage starts at 7:30 p.m. Eastern with The Best Political Team on Television.

Hey, listen, if there's somebody who knows about being stuck in small, tight places, it is David Blaine. He'll be on the phone with me on the other side. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: You know, interesting story. We've been talking about how these guys have managed and managed underground, how they managed this trip up. To some of the guys, that trip up in that tube that is 22 inches in diameter, that's got to be pretty tough.

I wanted to talk to David Blaine. He joins me now on the phone. David Blaine is an illusionist. He's an endurance artist. You've heard about him. He does crazy things where he'll suspend himself somewhere or put himself in something where he'll last for a long time.

Why is David Blaine relevant to this whole ? We know why Leroy Chow from NASA was relevant. David, because you choose to put yourself in these situations, and it's a mind over matter thing. You have convinced yourself you can do something that's unnatural, abnormal, and uncomfortable. How do you do that?

DAVID BLAINE, ILLUSIONIST (via phone): Just to start, I think there is no way to really quantify the different between voluntary and involuntary. And since most of the things I'm doing are voluntary, I can't speak for what these men have actually been going through on any level.

But what's always been amazing to me is the ability of the human organism to adapt for survival. Basically, the instincts of what we've developed over hundreds of thousands and millions of years to be able to still be here today.

So, what I think is -- when you put yourself in a confined space with almost nothing, what happens is the body shifts. It's a complete different mode that you enter. And I looked into animals and their abilities to adapt for survival. The one that was the most interesting to me was a salamander that is starving to death and about to die and it loses its tail because it needs its tail to survive, his body will quickly digest inner organs to help him grow a tail so he can run around and get food.

VELSHI: Wow! You make a very good point about the difference between voluntary and involuntary confinement. Involuntary confinement, you are -- you've got to probably control your breathing, your psyche. You prep for it. In involuntary confinement, there's got to be some degree of adrenaline or survival instinct that is pushing you that way. In the end, they're doing similar things to your body. BLAINE: Yes. But when it's voluntary, you kind of know your beginning and your end, and you get to prepare for the situation. So whether it's, okay, I'm not going to eat for the next month and a half, but I'm going to bulk up so I have fat for my body to digest versus not having anything and any preparation, and your body has to kick into that mode and figure out what it needs to do to make you survive for a length of time that it doesn't even know or can't anticipate is just absolutely mind-blowing.

VELSHI: And so that we can understand. I'm fascinated as I see these miners come out. They look robust. They look happy. Obviously, they're thrilled to be out there.

But they don't look disoriented or confused. What are the strangest things that the body can adjust to that we don't think is normal? I can't imagine how I would survive there for 68 or 69 days, and then the 15 minutes going up in this tube. It's kind of fascinating what the mind and body can do.

BLAINE: What I would imagine is going on is right now, I think they're having this crazy adrenaline rush. I mean, they probably didn't even know that they were going to ever make it. It's been two months plus in a hole.

And now they're coming out. And the world is receiving them and they're getting to see their loved ones and the people that they've been dreaming about.

So right now, I'm assuming they have this amazing adrenaline rush running through their bodies making them capable of functioning. But my guess is they will suffer repercussions, and their bodies will go through major changes, and it's not going to be easy. But right now, they're probably living off of pure adrenaline.

VELSHI: When you are in your voluntary confinement episodes, do you need to be thinking about the things that you've been dreaming about, like these guys have been dreaming about their families or favorite meal or whatever it is? Is that how you get through those things?

BLAINE: I think that's kind of what keeps you alive. I think it's knowing what you're going to when you're done, knowing that you have loved ones that are waiting for you or that you're going to get to resume normal life. That's kind of the pleasure of the whole -- that's why I almost do these things is because I take everything away, and I'm left with absolutely nothing. And then I realize that things that are important to me -- and when I come out for the next couple of weeks, I really appreciate life at the highest level.

VELSHI: And whether -- again, whether it's voluntary -- and you make this great distinction between voluntary and involuntary confinement. These miners were not voluntary confined. But hen you come out and smell the fresh air and see your loved ones and you eat the meal you wanted to eat, that high, how long does it go on for? Like, at what point do you start getting crabby again, or whatever you were in life and not appreciate the beauty around you? BLAINE: For me, it's like right away. I have a short moment of a heightened sense of awareness where I'm completely living truthfully in the given moment, and I'm emotional and alive and then all of a sudden the cell phone starts to ring. And things come back to reality, and then all of that is gone once again. And I spend the next two years trying to figure out what's next.

VELSHI: It's very hard for us because of what happens today doesn't have a parallel in history, so we've reached out to different people. To astronauts, people like you to get a bit of an understanding. And you've helped us with that. So, thank you for that.

David Blaine is illusionist and an artist, and he has joined us to give us some sense of what it's like to deprive yourself of freedom and confine yourself, even though in his case he points out, it's voluntary and not like the miners have gone through.

OK. Back to politics for a minute. Senate majority leader Harry Reid fighting for his political life. We'll tell you how just close that race is in Nevada. Your CNN political update is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: It is now just 20 days until the critical midterm elections. We want to get you updated on the latest news from the campaign trail with a CNN political update with my friend, CNN political editor Mark Preston and deputy political director Paul Steinhauser. They are two very important parts of The Best Political Team on Television. What have you got, guys?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, Ali. Not often you hear Republicans say, thank you, Mr. President, but there is a conservative group called American Crossroads. It has an affiliate called American Crossroads GPS. Who are they? They are one of these groups out raising a lot of money and funding ads across the country to try to defeat Democrats.

The White House and Democrats have gone after them, saying they're not disclosing their donors and should disclose their donors. Because of this in the past week, a representative from American Crossroads tells CNN they've raised $13 million from conservatives and Republicans who are just fed up with the White House and fed up with Democrats. And in fact, in all, they've raised $56 million this year.

Why is this morning? Because not only are they trying to defeat Senate candidates, Senate Democrats, now they'll start putting money into House races. In total, up to 15 by election day, Ali. A lot of money spent by conservative groups certainly out there heading into the midterms. Paul.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Ali, out in Nevada, Senate majority leader Harry Reid we know he's battling, he's fighting for his political life. I'm going to ask our cameraman, (INAUDIBLE) Kinlaw, to zoom in to the CNN Political Ticker. Brand new out there. A new poll in that Senate race out in Nevada. Look at the numbers from Suffolk University.

Among likely voters, Harry Reid at 46 percent. Sharron Angle, the former state lawmaker out there who's backed by members of the Tea Party at 43 percent. Of course, that is within the sampling error, but most recent polls have Angle a little ahead of Reid, and this one Reid a little ahead Angle.

Ali, we have our own CNN/"Time" polls coming out in four states later today, including Delaware. Delaware, tonight, of course, where Wolf Blitzer co-moderating a big debate in the Senate race.

Back to you, Mark.

PRESTON: Very quickly, Ali. Good news, bad news for governor Charlie Crist down in Florida. He's running that independent bid, of course. Marco Rubio, the Republican nominee. Kendrick Meek is Democratic nominee.

Well, two big endorsements. First endorsement is governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California. Came out, tweeted about it, said he thinks Charlie Crist is the right man at the right time. This morning, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. endorsed him -- the big Democrat from really the royalty of Democratic politics came out and endorsed Charlie Crist.

Bad news is, a new poll from Florida from Quinnipiac University shows Charlie Crist right now is trailing Rubio 44 to 30 percent. So, 14 points. A lot of room that Charlie Crist has to try to make up in the closing days to the midterms. Ali.

VELSHI: All right, Mark and Paul, good to see you guys. Busy days for you. Thanks very much for joining us. Your next CNN political update is just an hour away.

It's a little before the top of the hour. Let me show you what you're looking at there. It's a close-up shot provided to us by the Chilean government of the mechanism, the winch mechanism that pulls that capsule up. Miner number 20 is in that capsule right now. And that is being pulled to the surface. That is going to happen any moment now, which means there will be 13 more guys to be rescued, plus the five rescuers who are underneath right now.

We did hear the Chilean mining minister, the gentleman in the white hat on the left, saying about an hour ago he's going to send a sixth rescuer down there at some point, but it does look like things are moving very smoothly down there.

Don Lemon is going to take over for me in just a couple of minutes. Don, you're going to -- I just -- I'm rarely this fascinated by a story. And what a privilege to cover a story that has a great ending to it.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It's amazing. And I'm getting comments from viewers. They're saying, I'm watching CNN, and every time they bring one of these guys up, I just well up with tears. And at some point -- VELSHI: I do, too.

LEMON: It doesn't get old. Each time is like the first time. You saw the second guy that came up and gave the cheers. It's amazing, and it is a privilege to watch this. We provide a service for our viewers every single day. And this is definitely a service to be able to provide not only to the country but to the world to see this good news.

And you know, Ali, what I said this morning in the meeting, we complain about so much in this country.

VELSHI: This is a good lesson.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Everybody is on antidepressants. I don't remember one time they asked for an antidepressant or anti-anxiety drug.

VELSHI: They should be a lesson to us all. You're going to watch the next one coming up --

LEMON: Before you go, think about this. So, it's August 5th. We didn't know it happened because it happened. It was in Chile, August 5th. They're down there. They don't even know if anyone believes they're alive, if anyone is coming to get them, not for two weeks.

Then the shift supervisor says, you better stretch this out and they hear people coming for them. They don't know. Can you have imagine two whole weeks not knowing and then all of a sudden, you get the note, but you still don't know. It could be Christmas. Imagine the drama.

VELSHI: There's number 20 right there.

LEMON: Unbelievable. The 20th guy.

That is Dario Antonio Segovia Rojas. He is 48 years old. He is coming up now. Been in there 69 days. Let's listen to a bit of the applause here and a bit of the natural sound of had really joyous occasion, and then we'll get right back.

Stand by. Take a listen.

(PEOPLE SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)