Divers make headway in search for 13 trapped in Thai cave
Source: Straights Times
Divers make headway in search for 13 trapped in Thai cave
A Thai worker pumping water out of a cave complex to reduce water levels during the rescue effort for a missing football team
at the flooded Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand last Saturday. The 12 boys and their coach have not been heard from
since they ventured into the cave on June 23 and were trapped by heavy rain.PHOTO: EPA-EFE
PUBLISHED 30 MIN AGO
MAE SAI (Thailand) • Rescue divers inched closer to a spot in a flooded cave where 12 boys and their football coach are believed to be located, after days of bad weather hampered the gruelling search.
The children, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old assistant coach have not been heard from since they ventured into the recesses of the Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand on June 23 and were trapped by heavy rain.
The clouds parted yesterday and, with the help of water pumps, divers were able to establish a forward operating base inside the twisting chambers, raising hopes that the "Boars", as the football team is known, could be located soon.
"Today is a bright day for me and our team. We have sunlight today, roads are easily walkable," Mr Narongsak Osottanakorne, governor of Chiang Rai province, told reporters yesterday afternoon.
Read more: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/divers-make-headway-in-search-for-13-trapped-in-thai-cave
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A short 10 second video showed the weary, but alert group. All are safely at home by now.
It would have taken some kind of effort to keep focused, and calm throughout.
What a wonderful discovery they had all made it through, back to their lives. With help!
Tassanee Vejpongsa, Associated Press
Updated 10:54 am CDT, Wednesday, July 4, 2018
MAE SAI, Thailand (AP) — Their skinny faces illuminated by a flashlight, the Thai soccer teammates stranded for nearly two weeks in a partly flooded cave said in a video released Wednesday that they were healthy, as heavy rains forecast for later this week threatened to complicate plans to safely extract the boys.
The 12 boys and their coach are seen in the video sitting with Thai navy SEALs in the dark cave. The boys, many wrapped in foil warming blankets, take turns introducing themselves, pressing their hands together in a traditional Thai greeting and saying their names and that they are healthy.
The video, lasting about a minute, was recorded sometime Tuesday and was posted on the navy SEAL Facebook page Wednesday morning. The navy later released two more videos of the boys.
The boys, aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach disappeared after they went exploring in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in northern Chiang Rai province after a soccer game June 23. The teammates, who were trapped inside when heavy rains flooded the cave, were found by rescue divers Monday night during a desperate search that drew assistance from experts around the globe.
More:
https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Soccer-players-speaking-from-Thai-cave-say-they-13048302.php
By Clare Wilson
Rescuers are trying to help get out the twelve boys and their football coach stranded in a flooded cave system in Thailand before the waters rise more. One option is to teach them to scuba dive from scratch – but it’s not an easy prospect.
Has anything like this been done before?
There have been a few similar style rescues, although over much shorter distances. For instance in 1992 two men were taken through 200 meters of flooded passages in Sleets Gill Cave in Yorkshire in the UK. There has been nothing approaching this level of difficulty, though, nor with people so young as this.
How hard is it normally to learn cave diving?
Cave diving is known for being one of the world’s most dangerous sports. It combines the risks of two separate activities, caving and scuba diving, which each carry significant risks. In the UK under-18s aren’t even allowed to learn cave diving.
There are frequent deaths of experienced cave divers, usually due to people running out of air after getting lost because the waters have become cloudy with silt kicked up from the cave floor. Here there is a known exit route with a guide rope, but the boys and their coach will still need to learn how to use the scuba equipment and swim through dark narrow passageways without panicking.
More:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2173560-can-trapped-thai-boys-be-rescued-by-learning-to-scuba-dive/?cmpid=ILC|NSNS|2018_webpush&utm_medium=ILC&utm_source=NSNS&utm_campaign=webpush-Roost-Thaicavescuba
But they don't have much time.
ROSIE PERPER, BUSINESS INSIDER
6 JUL 2018
Authorities have been able to drain some of the water from the cave where a Thai soccer team has been trapped for 12 days, which may allow the team to avoid using diving equipment and almost walk out.
Rescuers can now enter the cave up until the third chamber located about 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) from the cave's entrance without using scuba gear, Poonsak Woongsatngiem, a rescue official with Thailand's Interior Ministry, told reporters on Thursday.
There are 20 pumps currently draining floodwaters from the cave and water levels have been reduced about 40 percent in some areas.
But challenges still remain with 2.5 kilometers of the tunnel full with water and heavy monsoon rain expected this weekend.
More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/water-pumping-drain-could-rescue-the-trapped-boys-from-thailand-s-cave-without-any-diving-monsoon
