The 33 miners who have been trapped for weeks in a collapsed Chilean mine will receive training on giving television and newspaper interviews, officials have said.
The mine workers have been featured on round-the-clock television broadcasts in Chile and have dominated newspaper coverage after they were found to have survived the disaster several days after being given up for dead.
Chilean officials, who said world interest is likely to become even more intense when the men are finally freed, said the planned training will help the workers cope with the coming media onslaught.
The miners will receive instruction via close-circuit television on 'remaining poised during an interview, asking the interviewer to repeat the question if they don't understand it, and how to say that they prefer not to answer' a given question, said Alberto Iturra, the psychologist who has been tasked with overseeing the men's mental and emotional well-being during the ordeal.
Mr Iturra said the miners are well aware of just how big their story has become.
'They're very excited about it,' he said, adding that some of the miners have even talked about writing a book about their experience.
The 32 Chileans and one Bolivian have been trapped more than 600m below ground since the cave-in on 5 August and have survived underground longer than anyone on record.
They are being supplied with food, water, medicine and entertainment through three supply holes, which also carry communication lines to the surface, where family members have been camped at the entrance of the mine.
