THAI CAVE FATAL TWIST
DIVER DIES AS FLOOD LOOMS
THE TH commander of navy SEALs working to rescue a youth soccer team trapped in a cave in Thailand’s north believes there is “a limited amount of time” left in which to extract the boys.
Thai SEAL commander Arpakorn Yookongkaew raised his concerns yesterday after announcing the tragic death of a volunteer rescuer.
“At first, we thought that we could sustain the kids’ lives for a long time where they are now, but now, many things have changed,” he said. “We have a limited amount of time.” He did not elaborate. The comments came hours after former Thai navy SEAL Saman Kunan passed out and died during an overnight mission in which he was placing oxygen canisters while diving.
It is unclear if the oxygen tank carried by the 38-year-old malfunctioned or simply ran out.
“We are trained to expect risks at any time. It’s part of the job,” Mr Arpakorn said. He said Mr Saman had taken three oxygen tanks to the stranded boys. “Though it does not look a long distance, a one-way journey through the tough conditions takes about five to six hours,” he said. “This means we use altogether 12 hours on one trip.” Even the most experienced divers have battled fast-moving currents to s swim from the base camp to the boys and their coach, where oxyge oxygen levels are reported to be at o only 15 per cent. Sen Senior army commander Maj Major-General Ch Chalongchai Chaiyakam, s said the most pressing mission was to provide an oxygen line to reach the team. Lack of oxygen in the cave has proven a danger for rescue workers and the soccer t team — a dozen boys ag aged 11-16 and their 25-year-old 25-y coach. “Our “O main mission today is to lay a pipe into the chamber so the group will have more air,” he said.
The pipe will have to be 4.7km to be able to reach the chamber from the cave entrance.
“But don’t worry, we can handle it,” the general said.
But he did not explain how long the group could last with the current amount of air, nor how long the pipe installation would take.
Rescuers are desperately looking at a second and more attractive option — a fissure that runs down from the mountaintop to a point about 100m beyond where the boys are huddled on a ledge.
The opening was reportedly located by a team of traditional bird’s nest hunters — men who scale sheer rockfaces in search of the prized delicacy, and who are surveying the tunnel to test its viability for an evacuation.
Late yesterday, the chief engineer at the centre of the rescue mission said his team may be able to drill down to the boys.
Drilling was ruled out as an option early on, but Engineering Institute of Thailand president Thanes Weerasin said a drilling crew was looking at a tunnel with a large hole about t 100m into it.
“It’s a big hole, about 1.2m by 1m,” he said. “You can go down using a rope … I think this place can lead to the children because after your foot touches the ground below, you can walk through using the compass and direct it to the tunnel (where the boys are stuck).”
With the risks of swimming the team out now judged by some to be too great, all options are on the table as imminent torrential rains are expected to flood the cave.
Though pumping has so far removed more than a million litres from the system, there are doubts as to whether the pumps can outpace coming rains.
The soccer team visited Tham Luang-Khun Nam Nang Non Cave, 1000km north of Bangkok near the Thai border with Myanmar, on June 23. A flash flood blocked their way out.
MEANWHILE, entrepreneur Elon Musk has offered to help Thai authorities.
Representatives for the billionaire were in talks about how they could aid the rescue effort, a spokesman for Mr Musk said.
“I suspect that the Thai govt has this under control, but am happy to help if there is a way to do so,” Mr Musk wrote on Twitter yesterday.
Mr Musk’s business was able to offer its Boring Company technology to pump water or provide heavy-duty battery packs known as Tesla Powerwalls, the spokesman said.
Mr Musk said Boring Co had “advanced ground penetrating radar & is pretty good at digging holes’’ and that Tesla’s commercial Powerpack batteries or water pumps could help remove water from the flooded cave.
“Our main mission today is to lay a pipe into the chamber so the group will have more air. But don’t worry, we can handle it.” MAJOR-GENERAL CHALONGCHAI CHAIYAKAM