US, UK JOIN THAI RESCUE OP
1000 navy divers, soldiers, officials mobilised to find 12 children, football coach lost in flooded mountain cavern
ATEAM of American military personnel and British divers joined rescue efforts at a flooded cave in northern Thailand, where 12 children and their football coach have been trapped for five days as heavy overnight rains hampered the search.
Floodwaters seeped into a second chamber of the Tham Luang cave and forced some of the rescue divers to turn back, according to officials. The children, aged between 11 and 16, went into the cave on Saturday and were trapped when heavy rains clogged the entrance.
Around 1,000 Navy Seal divers, police, soldiers, border guards and officials have been mobilised for the around-the-clock rescue in a remote and mountainous part of Chiang Rai province near the Laos and Myanmar borders.
A team of American military personnel from the US Pacific Command arrived at the site overnight to help rescue operations,
Three British cave diving experts made a second attempt at entering the cave through chimneys yesterday after they tried to go in through the main entrance on the day before, but were turned around by rushing floodwaters.
At nearly 10km, Tham Luang cave is one of the longest in Thailand and has the reputation of being one of the toughest.
There are several air pockets within the complex and the kids are believed to be in a large chamber in the middle of the cave.
“The water is like cafe latte, you can’t see anything, and there’s a very strong flow which doesn’t make it easy,” said Ben Reymenants, owner of Blue Label Diving from Chiang Rai, who was assisting the search.
High-pressure water pumps shipped in from Bangkok were set up, but water levels continued to rise.
Officials said they planned to drill a hole into the cave today and despatched drones to find an ideal site for the hole.
“It’s difficult to drill vertically, if you go up the mountain and drill there are high risks (of collapse). So, we might drill from the side to improve our chances of success,” said Suttisak Soralump, a geotechnical expert from Kasetsart University.
Border guards scoured the site for new openings into the cave and the boys' families brought clothing belonging to the kids to help sniffer dogs find the team.
Exhausted relatives have been camped out near the cave’s entrance for days desperately awaiting news on the missing team and their 25-year-old coach.
“I’m sad. I want (my son) to be safe. We’ve heard nothing from officials yet,” said Thinnakorn, the father of a 12-year-old lost in the cave.
Officials said the football team and their coach Ekkapol Janthawong have been in the cave before and knew the site well.
Photos on Ekkapol’s Facebook page showed him with some young footballers in the cave in 2016.