Urgency vital in Thai cave rescue

RAIN AHEAD: BOYS MAY HAVE TO DIVE THEIR WAY OUT

Mae Sai

Thai rescuers said yesterday they might be forced to carry out a complex extraction of 12 boys and their football coach from a flooded cave if the forecast rain deluges the mountainside.

Sets of diving equipment have been prepared for the team, who have spent 12 nights underground in the Tham Luang cave complex in northern Thailand. Water is being pumped out of the cave around-the-clock, reducing the level by one centimetre an hour.

But with rain forecast to begin again today, the Chiang Rai provincial governor at the helm of the rescue effort conceded it was now “a race against the water”.

“We are calculating how much time we have if it rains, how many hours and days,” said Narongsak Osottanakorn.

In a sign of increased urgency, Narongsak said medics and Thai Navy Seal divers were assessing if the boys were well enough to be taken out early, a shift from his earlier stance that “no risk” would be taken in the evacuation.

The prospect of the stranded team diving out is fraught with danger. It takes seasoned cave diving experts six hours to reach the ledge where they are and many of them, aged between 11 and 16, can’t swim and none have diving experience.

Three days after contact was made with the group, Thai Navy Seal experts were teaching them the basics of diving. But the areas where diving is still necessary are tight and the boys might have to swim through murky waters unaccompanied.

Rescuers are also hunting for a passage down to the boys as a second option. They have enlisted the help of expert birdwatchers to find hidden holes on the outside.

Authorities still hope they can manage a new deluge, with pumps having drained 128 million litres from the cave. Water has been cleared from the entrance to chamber three, but from there it’s impassable without diving, said Khao Khieupakdi, a disaster prevention official.

Officials have considered the boys staying in the cave until the monsoon season passes in three or four months. But that would have to be taken off the table if flooding worsens. –