SANTIAGO, Chile — The 33 miners who have been trapped for over one month 2,300 feet under the Atacama desert in northern Chile are to watch today's soccer match between Chile and Ukraine live.

"We have carried out the relevant tests of the signal, which were described as optimal," the National Emergency Office (Onemi) of the Chilean Interior Ministry said today in a statement.

Rescue workers liaised with personnel from the mobile telephone company Movistar to broadcast the match to the miners, who have been trapped since the mine shaft collapsed on Aug. 5. Contact was only re-established with the miners 17 days later.

One of the 33 miners is suffering from severe tooth ache, Onemi noted, and his antibiotics treatment had to be changed.

Another miner was also getting treatment for hypertension.

Rescue teams are using an Xstrata drill to dig a 2,300-foot vertical tunnel to the place where the miners are. By today, they had reached about 325 feet underground. Onemi described this as Plan A.

The drilling of a second shaft, Plan B, has also begun at the San Jose copper mine and reached a depth of nearly 100 feet.