The Odyssey connection

There was news during the month of august about the trapped miners in Chile. They were trapped about 150 ft. away from the ground after the mines blocked the passage. And recently, the miners are said to be in the process of getting freed after spending 66 days underground. The families have tented and stayed in the desert for the rest of the time since the miners were trapped. The camp they are residing is called Camp Hope, with the hope that the miners can be rescued. The drilling and rescuing the people out seems to be very hard process and can cause other problems. John E. Urosek, chief of mine emergency operations for the United States Mine Safety and Health Administration said “There’s only about two inches clearance around it, and they’ll have to pull it out of that depth so many times, it could get wedged.”
I find it to similar to the story of Odyssey. He is like the miners who are trapped and can’t get home. In the Odyssey text, he left for the war and doesn’t return because he is trapped in the sea-girt island. “so long a castaway upon an island in the running sea; a wooded island, in the sea’s middle.” (1:65) Athena, the green-eyed goddess helps, Telemachus about his father and that he should go in search of him. She gives him positive felling about the return of his father just like all the other warriors who were home already.