Thai farmers take on water from cave to help clear exit

MAE SAI: His fields are submerged and his ducks nearly wiped out by water being frantically pumped from the cave that holds captive 12 boys and their football coach, but farmer Lek is delighted to help the rescue bid.

Standing near his ruined land, Lek Lapdaungpoin says he is proud of his small but significant contribution to battling the rescue operation’s main enemy – water.

“With the farming, we can make money again.

“But 13 lives are not something we can create,” he said, estimating that five districts and hundreds of acres were damaged in the lowlands around the Tham Luang cave complex.

Flooding is seasonal in Thailand, but for many near the cave the scale is sudden and massive.

Water inside the cave has blocked the boys’ escape route.

Nineteen high-powered pumps are in place to reduce the water level, which has come down by one centimetre each hour.

“The problem is that there is not enough power if we are running many pumps at the same time,” said fireman Poonshak Wonjsangiam.

Still authorities say more than 128 million litres of water have been sucked out of the 10km-long cave, enough to fill 50 Olympicsized swimming pools.

Mountainside creeks have also been diverted in the hope of limiting water run-off into the cave.

Excess water has been funnelled onto nearby fields, streams and hastily dug underground wells.

“There is so much (water),” said Shigeki Miyake, of the Japan International Cooperation Agency in Thailand, which is assisting with draining.

“No one can calculate it.”