‘Conditions perfect’ for Thai cave rescue
Generators pumping water out from sprawling cave mouth
CHIANG RAI Conditions are “perfect” to evacuate a young football team from a flooded Thai cave in the coming days, the rescue mission chief said on Saturday.
The plight of 12 Thai boys and their coach from the “Wild Boar” football team has transfixed Thailand since they became trapped in a cramped chamber several kilometres inside the Tham Luang cave complex on June 23. Rescuers have conceded that evacuating the boys is a race against time with monsoon rains expected to undo days of roundthe-clock drainage of the cave.
More than 100 exploratory holes have been bored into the mountainside in an attempt to open a second evacuation route and avoid forcing the boys into a dangerous dive through submerged tunnels.
“Now and in the next three or four days, the conditions are perfect (for evacuation) in terms of the water, the weather and the boys’ health,” Narongsak Osottanakorn, the chief of the rescue operation, told reporters. “We have to make a clear decision on what we can do.” Later on Saturday, torrential rain pounded the area for around half an hour, highlighting the urgency of the rescue. Rescuers have fed a kilometres-long air pipe into the cave to restore oxygen levels in the chamber where the team are sheltering, accompanied by medics and expert divers.
Thai Navy SEALS published touching notes scrawled by the trapped footballers to their families, who are waiting for them agonisingly close-by outside the cave entrance. The children urged relatives “not to worry” and asked for their favourite food once they are safely evacuated.
In one Pheerapat, nicknamed “Night”, whose 16th birthday the group were celebrating in the cave when they became stuck on June 23, said: “I love you, Dad, Mum and my sister. You don’t need to be worried about me.” Meanwhile the 25-year-old coach Ekkapol Chantawong, the only adult to accompany the boys into the cave, sent his “apologies” to their parents.
“To all the parents, all the kids are still fine. I promise to take the very best care of the kids,” he said in a note given to divers.
TOURIST BOAT SINKING TOLL CLIMBS TO 41
The death toll from a tourist boat accident off the coast of Thailand’s Phuket island climbed to 41 on Saturday with 15 people still missing, officials said.
Rescuers resumed a search for those still missing from the Phoenix, which capsized in rough waters on Thursday carrying 93 Chinese tourists and 12 Thai crew and tour guides in one of Thailand’s worst recent accidents. “Deceased: 41. Missing: 15,” a government statement said.