Desperate officials launch cave rescue
The operation has begun to rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach who will need to dive out of the flooded Thai cave where they have been trapped for more than two weeks, with officials saying yesterday that ‘‘today is D-Day’’.
Chiang Rai’s acting governor, Narongsak Osatanakorn, said 13 foreign and five Thai divers were taking part in the rescue and two divers would accompany each boy as they were gradually extracted.
The operation began at 10am local time and he said it would take at least 11 hours for the first person to be rescued.
The only way to bring them out of Tham Luang Nang Non in Chiang Rai province was by navigating dark and tight passageways filled with muddy water and strong currents, as well as oxygen-depleted air.
A former Thai navy SEAL passed out making the dive at the weekend and died.
Experienced cave-rescue experts consider an underwater escape a last resort, especially with people untrained in diving, as the boys are. The path out is considered especially complicated because of twists and turns in narrow flooded passages.
But the governor supervising the mission said earlier that mild weather and falling water levels over the last few days had created optimal conditions for an underwater evacuation that won’t last if it rains again.
Before announcing that the rescue was under way, authorities ordered the throngs of media that had gathered at the cave from around the world to leave.
The boys, ages 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach became stranded when they went exploring in the cave after a practice game on June 23. Monsoon flooding cut off their escape and prevented rescuers from finding them for almost 10 days.
Authorities had said that incoming monsoon rains that could send water levels in the cave rising, coupled with falling oxygen levels in the enclosed space, added to the urgency of getting those trapped out.
Earlier efforts to pump out water from the cave have been set back every time there has been a heavy downpour.
Narongsak said on Saturday that experts had told him water from new rain could shrink the unflooded space where the boys are sheltering to just 10 square metres.
‘‘I confirm that we are at war with water and time from the first day up to today. Finding the boys doesn’t mean we’ve finished our mission. It is only a small battle we’ve won, but the war has not ended. The war ends when we win all three battles — the battles to search, rescue and send them home.’’
The boys sounded calm and reassuring in handwritten notes to their families that were made public on Saturday. The notes were sent out with divers who made an 11-hour, back-and-forth journey to act as postmen.
One of the boys, identified as Tun, wrote: ‘‘Mom and Dad, please don’t worry, I am fine. I’ve told Yod to get ready to take me out for fried chicken. With love.’’
‘‘Night loves Dad and Mom and brother, don’t worry about me. Night loves you all,’’ wrote Night, in the Thai manner of referring to one’s self in the third person. - AP