Rescued Chile Miners Count The Cost A Year On

A year after the world celebrated the rescue of 33 Chilean miners trapped for two months, many are still out of work and several have money and mental health issues.

Others have found solace in drink and drugs, as the initial euphoria of fame evaporated and the nightmares of spending 69 days nearly half a mile underground come to haunt them.

The 33 are still waiting for compensation from the Chilean state and are pinning their financial futures on a film about their ordeal. But the script for that is reportedly not even written.

Almost a half are still unemployed. Only four went back to mining. Another returned but was overcome by panic when temporarily left alone.

Some work as mechanics, some sell fruit and vegetables. They say that only a handful of them have steady jobs.

After his release, Jimmy Sanchez cruised the Greek islands, visited Britain, Israel and the US.

Now he is unemployed and twice a month makes a lengthy journey to the Chilean capital Santiago for psychiatric treatment.

He is one of nine miners receiving sick-leave pay for prolonged post-traumatic stress.

"Most of us are in the same place with emotional and psychological problems," said 20-year-old Mr Sanchez.

"It was the fear that we would never again see our families, that we were going to die. We just can't shake those memories," he told the New York Times.

Another miner, Claudio Acuna Cortes, 35, is receiving treatment to help cope with sleep problems. "I became very irritable. I find it difficult to concentrate," he said.

At the time of the rescue, Phillip Hodson, a fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, told Sky News Online that the miners faced a "long and difficult journey ahead" - and warned that their new celebrity status could be "poisonous".

Jonathan Franklin, a Chile-based reporter, wrote 33 Men, a book which tells the story of the miners' first 17 days underground.

He said: "What they went through was so hellish and so close to the textbook definition of torture it's not at all surprising that they're going to have to be dealing with this for the rest of their lives.

"They don't feel that comfortable with the world."