COPIAPO, Chile — Rescuers are lowering capsules containing rehydration tablets, glucose and oxygen down a long hole to 33 miners who surprised the world by staying alive while trapped a half-mile underground for 2Z\x weeks.

Raising hopes further Monday, a second bore hole punched into the chamber where the miners are entombed and a third probe was nearing the spot, Mining Minister Laurence Golborne reported.

The hole that reached the miners Sunday will continue to be used to lower supplies, the second will be for communication and the third will provide ventilation, Golborne said.

Their ordeal, however, is far from over.

Above ground, doctors and psychological experts are debating how to keep them sane during the estimated four months it will take to dig a tunnel wide enough to get them out of the safety chamber 2,200 feet underground where they have been buried since Aug. 5. Through a newly installed communication system, the miners told authorities Monday afternoon that they had eaten canned tuna, milk and biscuits stored in the refuge after the disaster. They used a backhoe to dig for trapped water.

"They had two little spoonfuls of tuna, a sip of milk and a biscuit every 48 hours," said Dr. Sergio Aguilar, a physician on the rescue team.

Aguilar did not say how long those meager supplies lasted after the landslide that caused a tunnel to collapse inside the San Jose gold and copper mine.

Officials released a portion of the recording of the dialogue, in which miners are heard singing Chile's national anthem.

In a dialogue earlier Monday, each man spoke and reported feeling hungry but well, except for one with a stomach problem, a Chilean official said. The miners asked for toothbrushes.

Officials said they were implementing a plan that includes keeping the miners informed and busy.

"They need to understand what we know up here at the surface, that it will take many weeks for them to reach the light," Health Minister Jaime Manalich said.

Engineers worked to reinforce the first 6-inch-wide bore hole by using a long hose to coat its walls with a metallic gel to decrease the risk of rocks blocking the passage.

The lubricant makes it easier to pass supplies through capsules nicknamed "palomas," Spanish for dove. The first of the packages, which are about 5 feet long and take about an hour to descend from the surface, held rehydration tablets and a high-energy glucose gel to help the miners recover their digestive systems.