SAFETY FIRST:
Four Thai schoolboys were rescued from a cave as divers launched a daring and dangerous mission to free the children and their soccer coach yesterday.
CHIANG RAI, Thailand: Four of 12 Thai schoolboys were rescued from a flooded cave yesterday, as divers launched a daring and dangerous mission to free the children and their soccer coach who have been trapped underground for more than two weeks, officials said.
Thirteen foreign divers and five members of Thailand’s elite navy SEAL unit guided the boys to safety through narrow, submerged passageways that claimed the life of a former Thai navy diver on Friday.
As night fell, the operation to rescue the remaining eight boys – some as young as 11 and weak swimmers – and their coach was called off until today.
“Today we managed to rescue and send back four children to Chiang Rai Prachanukrua Hospital safely,” the head of the rescue operation, Narongsak Osottanakorn, told a news conference. “It’s a big success of all teams. We have thousands of people helping us with the operation.”
The rescue teams now needed at least 10 hours to prepare for their next operation, involving about 90 divers in total, 50 of them from foreign countries, he said.
A helicopter flew the four boys to the nearby city of Chiang Rai, where they were taken by ambulance to hospital.
Their ordeal has drawn huge media attention in Thailand and abroad, and getting the boys out safely could be a boost for Thailand’s junta ahead of elections next year.
Bursts of heavy monsoon rain soaked the Tham Luang Cave area yesterday and storms were expected, increasing the risks in what has been called a “war with water and time” to save the team.
The boys, aged between 11 and 16, went missing with their 25-year-old coach after soccer practice on June 23, setting out on an adventure to explore the cave complex near the border with Myanmar and celebrate a boy’s birthday.
The rescue teams had rehearsed the plan for several days, Narongsak said, and had managed to drain the water level in the cave considerably, but needed to move fast.
“If we wait and the rain comes in the next few days, we will be tired again from pumping and our readiness would drop. If that’s the case, then we have to reassess the situation,” he said.
“We can only carry on the operation once we are ready and this will be done soon, because the air tank and other systems have to be reinstalled.
“We have used it all… Once the team are ready, they will do so immediately. It should be more than 10 hours but not exceeding 20 hours. The conditions must be stable like today before we can continue.”
An Australian doctor who is part of the rescue mission checked the health of the boys on Saturday night and gave the all-clear for the operation.
The boys were discovered by British divers Richard Stanton and John Volanthen.
Of the 13-strong foreign dive team – mainly from Europe – three escorted the children, while the remainder were positioned along the dangerous first kilometre stretch, where the boys had to navigate submerged passageways in some places no more than 0.6m wide.
Thirteen medical teams were stationed outside the cave, each with its own helicopter and ambulance – one for each of 12 boys and their coach.
A source at the Chiang Rai hospital said five emergency response doctors were awaiting the boys and a further 30 doctors were on standby.
“The teams here are happy the boys are being rescued but also anxious about the severity of the boys’ conditions. We’re under a lot of pressure,” she said. The area outside the hospital was cordoned off, with police patrolling it. – Reuters