Description & Facts: Chilean miners found alive -- but rescue will take four months Joy greeted the news that a group of Chilean miners trapped for 17 days deep inside a collapsed mine are all alive but the challenge now facing the 33 men is to maintain their sanity during the four months it will take to free them. A rescue probe that drilled down 2257ft to the bottom of the San José mine made contact with the miners yesterday, who sent back a message reading: "All 33 of us are well inside the shelter." A note from the eldest of the trapped miners to his wife Lilian Ramírez indicated that the men were aware of the challenge facing them but confident that they would prove equal to it. "Even if we have to wait months to communicate ... I want to tell everyone that I'm good and we'll surely come out OK," Mario Gómez, 63, wrote, scrawling the words on a sheet of notebook paper that the miners tied to the probe. "Patience and faith. God is great and the help of my God is going to make it possible to leave this mine alive." Video footage of one of the miners, taken with a small camera sent underground after receipt of the handwritten message, was obtained by CNN Chile. There has been no audio contact yet but the unnamed man appeared to be in good spirits. Chilean authorities intend to send microphones down to communicate with the miners directly. Food, water, medicine and other supplies will also be sent down into the mine. Rescue equipment from around the world is being rushed in to build an