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Int'l rescue effort closes in on soccer team trapped for 9 days in a flooded Thai cave


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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/thailand-cave-rescue-luang-nang-non-missing-soccer-team-coach-chiang-rai/

MAE SAI, Thailand -- Rescue divers spent much of Monday making preparations for what is hoped will be a final push in their search for 12 boys and their soccer coach who have been missing for more than a week in a cave in northern Thailand. Chiang Rai provincial Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said the divers concentrated on securing a rope line and placing oxygen tanks along the narrow passageway that they think will lead them to the boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach, who disappeared when flooding trapped them after entering the Tham Luang Nang Non cave on June 23.

Thai navy SEAL divers and rescue workers from other countries made initial progress through the narrow passageway early Monday after passing through a key chamber on Sunday whose high, murky waters had previously blocked their progress.

Narongsak said the passageway the divers were making their way through goes upward in some places and downward in others and is extremely narrow, making it difficult for divers with all their gear to fit through.

Divers have been stymied again and again by muddy water rising filing sections of the cave and forcing them to withdraw for safety reasons. When water levels dropped Sunday, the divers went forward with a more methodical approach, deploying a rope line and extra oxygen supplies along the way.

The SEALs' Facebook page said that since Sunday night, the divers had reached a bend where the half-mile-long passage splits in two directions. The divers are aiming for a sandy chamber on higher ground in the cave, where they believe the group would be safe.

On Monday, they were again employing the methodical, safety-first approach to make it through the passageway.

Narongsak explained Monday that fixing rope lines and deploying oxygen tanks along their route will allow the divers to operate.

Public anticipation for a rescue has been high since Sunday, but officials have avoided setting a timetable for the search and rescue operation. They publicly remain optimistic.

"In theory, human beings can last 30 days (without food)," Narongsak told reporters. "We hope and believe that is the case. We all still have hope."

He said it was expected that in their condition, the boys would at first not be able to move their limbs, but that medical teams would initially treat them in place. He said the diving teams included doctors who were already inside the cave.

In addition to the divers, teams have been working to pump out water as well as divert groundwater. Other efforts have focused on finding shafts on the mountainside that might serve as a back door to the blocked-off areas where the missing may be sheltering.

Teams have been combing the mountainside looking for fissure that might lead to such shafts. Several have been found and explorers have been able to descend into some, but so far it is not clear whether they lead to anywhere useful.

Narongsak said they were focusing Monday on six shafts, up from two the day before. Authorities also used helicopters to place heavy equipment such as backhoes and drilling machinery on the mountainside. The plan is to try to widen some of those shafts.

Experts in cave rescues from around the world continued to gather at the site. An official Australian group has now followed a U.S. military team, British cave experts, Chinese lifesaving responders and several other volunteer groups from various countries.

"These are challenging conditions and there's a lot of consideration for safety as well as, the environment outside is contributing to the environment inside," said U.S. Air Force Capt. Jessica Tait, part of a 30-strong U.S. military team assisting in the search operation, referring to the rain that has been flooding the cave. "So I'd say, yeah, it's an accurate statement that it's challenging."

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glad the whole group is alive.

However,  reading up on this, news reports are saying that they wont be able to get the kids out for 3-4 MONTHS, unless they teach them how to scuba dive... in a  dark cave, with dirty water, for their very first dive, which as most folks know, is a recipe for disaster.

 

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15 minutes ago, AUS-97HORN said:

glad the whole group is alive.

However,  reading up on this, news reports are saying that they wont be able to get the kids out for 3-4 MONTHS, unless they teach them how to scuba dive... in a  dark cave, with dirty water, for their very first dive, which as most folks know, is a recipe for disaster.

 

Right?

Keep them fed, give them some vitamin D supplements, and wait for the water recedes. Cave diving is deadly for even the most seasoned of divers. Hell, it is likely you'll lose somebody on a supply run to the kids.

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26 minutes ago, AUS-97HORN said:

glad the whole group is alive.

However,  reading up on this, news reports are saying that they wont be able to get the kids out for 3-4 MONTHS, unless they teach them how to scuba dive... in a  dark cave, with dirty water, for their very first dive, which as most folks know, is a recipe for disaster.

 

Lol, it’s not like they’re gonna hand them scuba gear and say “good luck”. There’s gonna be a diver right there going out with them. Still hard, but not as bad as it sounds. 

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15 minutes ago, Helobious said:

Lol, it’s not like they’re gonna hand them scuba gear and say “good luck”. There’s gonna be a diver right there going out with them. Still hard, but not as bad as it sounds. 

Don't think it will work that way.  I'm pretty sure that I read the rescuers/searchers were having to leave tanks along the route because there are areas where you can't fit through wearing a tank.

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According to one of the divers that found them - none of them can swim. Also a 1.5 mile dive against strong currents and zero visibility that took 4 hours. Good luck with that:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2018/jul/02/thailand-cave-rescue-divers-search-for-missing-football-team-live

 

Quote

This is one of the more extreme cave dives that I have done. It is very far, and very complex. There is current. The visibility can be zero at times. So getting boys through there one by one, and the risk that they will panic is there. They can’t even swim. This has been done before with pulling people out of wrecks alive. So it is not impossible, but the issue is the restrictions - just one person can fit through. So guiding a boy through in front of you could be quite challenging, especially if the rain picks up and there’s a strong flow and the visibility reduces to zero. When it starts raining the flow is so hard you can barely swim against it.

It took us four hours just to swim to the point where we had to tie off the lines. It is really long swim. So it is really hard to give an opinion on what is the best solution.

I think the weather is going to be the deciding factor.

 

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So how did these kids get in there in the 1st place? Is there a bigger, straighter passage way deeper?

When those peruvian miners were trapped they said it would be a long time to get them out. Then some guys innovates some other way and they got out way quicker than predicted.

Pumps. Big water pumps and lots of them. I assume that area is all porous limestone and/or volcanic rock. But it IS possible to pump a shitload of water.

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18 minutes ago, Parliament said:

So how did these kids get in there in the 1st place? Is there a bigger, straighter passage way deeper?

When those peruvian miners were trapped they said it would be a long time to get them out. Then some guys innovates some other way and they got out way quicker than predicted.

Pumps. Big water pumps and lots of them. I assume that area is all porous limestone and/or volcanic rock. But it IS possible to pump a shitload of water.

They were Chilean miners...ive never been in a true "cave". The Chilean miners cemented that Ill never step in a cave and this just confirms it. 3-4 months? Cant imagine the smell 

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38 minutes ago, Parliament said:

So how did these kids get in there in the 1st place? Is there a bigger, straighter passage way deeper?

When those peruvian miners were trapped they said it would be a long time to get them out. Then some guys innovates some other way and they got out way quicker than predicted.

Pumps. Big water pumps and lots of them. I assume that area is all porous limestone and/or volcanic rock. But it IS possible to pump a shitload of water.

They have been pumping water out for days.

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54 minutes ago, DFWTexEx said:

They got in when it was dry.

I think that the problem with the "wait it out" approach is if a monsoon comes and the water rises up to where they are.

The passage the divers took was up, down and so narrow they needed to take their scuba gear off on occasion.  Did the kids crawl through all that?

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37 minutes ago, Parliament said:

The passage the divers took was up, down and so narrow they needed to take their scuba gear off on occasion.  Did the kids crawl through all that?

I don't know but maybe, as they desperately tried to stay ahead of and above the rising water.  I have not heard that there is another way to where they are.

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I can’t even imagine diving cave systems like that. Don’t want to either. Diving is no joke in open water. I just got the news that a good friend of mine is on life support after she apparently ascending to quickly during a dive in a Kentucky quarry yesterday. She’s currently on life support while they harvest her organs. I’m just absolutely gutted right now.

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3 hours ago, Catpfish said:

Don't think it will work that way.  I'm pretty sure that I read the rescuers/searchers were having to leave tanks along the route because there are areas where you can't fit through wearing a tank.

imma check out right here. enough nightmare fuel for me.

good luck to these guys. damn that sucks

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2 hours ago, TornACL said:

 

2 hours ago, luke duke said:

Just tie one end of a rope to their ankles and the other to the bumper of a truck. They’ll be out in no time.

That would be a terrible idea.

You could really damage that truck!

Edited by phdhorn
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