No alcohol for trapped miners

Meatballs and rice is the first meal for miners; doctors refuse wine and cigarettes

Meatballs and rice is the first meal for miners; doctors refuse wine and cigarettes

The 33 trapped miners in Chile got their first hot meal in weeks, but booze and smokes will have to wait.

A NASA doctor nixed the miners' request for alcohol and cigarettes Monday as the men enjoyed meatballs over rice and cheese sandwiches.

Instead of cigarettes, the men received nicotine patches and gum to quell their cravings.

Out of luck
As for the wine, the men, who have lost more than 20 pounds since the San Jose mine collapse August 5, are out of luck for now.

"From the alcohol standpoint, we need to first get their nutrition up before we make any considerations there," NASA's deputy chief doctor James Michael Duncan said.

Duncan is part of a team of medical experts from the space agency working with the miners in Chile.
The other item the trapped men may not get is bad news.

Chilean officials are debating whether to censor what the men see and read while they wait to be rescued.

No questions
"They have told us to not ask any questions to the men in our letters," said Carolina Lobos, whose father, Franklin, is trapped.

"We are supposed to write in a positive way that will bring them up," she said.

But one psychologist thinks that idea is dangerous.

"If you start to do that you are setting up a base for mistrust," Dr Nick Kanas said. "The miners will then ask, 'What else are they hiding from me?'

The latest video released by the government shows the men in good spirits and with shaved faces, unlike last week's video where the men sported scraggly beards.

The miners will remain underground for up to four months as rescuers delicately drill an escape hole for the men. Since the mine collapse, the men have gotten shots to prevent against disease.

The men moved 1,000 feet deeper to a dryer area after some of the miners developed infections and sores.

Currently, holes are being used to deliver food and communication equipment, with one hole for ventilation.