The Chilean miners trapped hundreds of metres below ground have formed a micro-society to overcome bordeom and keep them sane.
Each of them has taken on roles that include a "priest", a "doctor", a "poet" a "TV presenter" and a "foreman", UK newspaper The Telegraph reports.
"They have a full hierarchy," Chile's health minister Jaime Manalich was quoted as saying.
"It is a matter of life and death for them."
Three drilling machines are now preparing to dig out the 33 men who have been stuck for a month underground at the San Jose mine.
Dr Manalich said his worst fear was that one or more of them would mentally crack under the strain of being stuck in a confined space for so long and attempt to claw their way out.
But the group so far is being held together but the hierarchy they have established.
The role of spiritual leader has been assigned to the oldest member of the group, a 62-year-old man who encourages his colleagues to pray daily in a makeshift chapel.
Another miner has been using the knowledge he gained on a nursing course to administer medicines, including vaccinations, among the group.
There is another miner who's taken on the role as video narrator for the group, appearing in front of the camera for the outside world and coaxing shyer members to appear on film.
The group even has a poet — a man who has never devoted much time to writing but who penned a moving poem describing their first 17 days trapped down the mine.
"Each is finding their own role and their own way to express themselves and we think that is very healthy," Alberto Iturra, a psychologist at the site, was quoted as saying.
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