Cave rescue efforts step up as water levels drop
MAE SAI, Thailand: The frantic effort to locate 12 boys and their football coach who have been missing in a cave in Thailand for a week picked up pace yesterday as fine weather eased flooding in the system of caverns and more experts from around the world joined the rescue mission.
Australian Federal Police and Defence Force personnel joined other multinational teams in the desperate search, including US military personnel and experts from a British cave exploration club. China sent a sixperson team of rescue and disaster experts to the cave, the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok said. The group had experience in lifesaving operations in Myanmar and Nepal, the embassy said.
The search has been going slowly, largely because flooding has blocked rescuers from passing through chambers to get deeper into the cave.
Pumping out water has not solved the problem, so attention is now focusing on finding shafts on the mountainside that might serve as a back door to the blockedoff areas where the missing group may be sheltering.
The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25yearold coach entered the sprawling Tham Luang Nang Non cave after a football game on June 23, but nearconstant rain has thwarted the search for them. Thai navy Seal divers have been stymied by muddy water reaching the cave’s ceiling. With water levels dropping, they resumed dives on Saturday, but they could not advance further than 200 metres from their current position.
Officials are dropping care packages into shafts leading to the caves in the hope the missing might retrieve them. Each package contains food, beverages, a phone, a torch, candles, a lighter and a map of the cave.