FOLLOWING THE JOY WHEN 12 THAI BOYS AND THEIR SOCCER COACH WERE FOUND AFTER 10 DAYS IN A CAVE, COMES THE SOBERING TRUTH. THEY MUST LEARN TO SCUBA DIVE TO ESCAPE A WATERY GRAVE — VERY QUICKLY.
Rescue teams make plans for risky extraction
• Thai navy Seals are racing to train 12 young boys and their football coach trapped in a cave how to scuba dive before the arrival of monsoon rains that could force an emergency evacuation.
The group has been trapped in a vast cave complex for almost two weeks, and experts are currently assessing how they will get them out.
Rescue teams are reported to be contemplating a risky rapid extraction, possibly as soon as Thursday, before heavy rains set in, potentially causing further flooding through the already submerged chambers of the almost ten-kilometre-long cave in Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai province. Highpressure pumps have been used to drain water from the cave, while navy Seals stayed with the boys to give them first aid, swimming and diving lessons, and to keep their spirits up.
A video released Wednesday showed Lt.-Col Dr. Phak Lohanchun applying disinfectant to minor wounds on emaciated boys wrapped in foil blankets inside the cave.
“Show me your smile,” he says to one of the younger children, as some of the boys state their name and say they are in good health.
Meanwhile, engineers laid a fibre-optic cable through the labyrinthian Tham Luang cave to allow the boys to speak to their families for the first time since their ordeal began on June 23. It is an important psychological booster before either a perilous journey through six kilometres of underwater passageways, or the prospect of having to sit out the monsoon rains for weeks or even months, to allow the floodwaters to subside.
“The water is still too rough for the boys now,” said Tiraya Jaikaew, who leads a team of volunteer rescue divers helping the Thai navy. “We are focusing on setting up ropes in each section of the cave to help them.”
Thai authorities have emphasized that they will not endanger the boys’ lives during the extraction and will only do it when it is “100 percent safe.”
The world’s attention has been riveted to their story, which echoes the tale of the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped for 69 days for over half-a-kilometre below the surface in 2010 before being freed.
“They shouldn’t be ashamed to be scared,” Omar Reygadas, one of the trapped Chilean miners, told The Associated Press. He ascribed his comrades’ survival to faith, prayer and humour. “Because we were scared, too. Our tears also ran. Even as adult men, we cried.”