Officials aim to rescue kids from cave before rain hits
MAE SAI, Thailand—Worried that heavy monsoon rain could soon make the job even more difficult, Thai officials said Saturday that they may need to quickly rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach from a partially flooded cave by helping them make risky dives to safety.
The boys, ages 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach have been trapped for two weeks—since June 23, when they went exploring in northern Thailand’s Tham Luang Nang Non cave after a practice game. Monsoon flooding cut off their escape and prevented rescuers from finding them for almost 10 days.
The only way to reach them was by navigating dark and tight passageways filled with muddy water and strong currents, as well as oxygen-depleted air.
Getting out via the same route looks like the only feasible option, but a high-risk one, Thai officials say. 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.
The local governor supervising the rescue mission said Saturday that mild weather and falling water levels over the last few days had created appropriate conditions for an underwater evacuation, but that they won’t last if it rains again.
Thai officials are stressing that they may have to act very soon. If weather forecasts are correct, access to the cave could soon close again because of flooding from seasonal monsoon rains. Earlier efforts to pump out water from the cave have been set back every time there has been a heavy downpour.
Chiang Rai acting Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said authorities were waiting for two big groups of volunteer foreign divers to arrive this weekend, after which they will be ready to act quickly to bring the team members out when the conditions are right.
Narongsak said experts told him flooding from new rain could shrink the unflooded space where the boys are sheltering to just 10 square meters.
“I confirm that we are at war with water and time from the first day up to today,” he said. “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 Saturday. The notes were sent out with divers who made an 11-hour, back-and-forth journey to act as postmen.
An update Saturday from the Thai navy said three navy SEALs were with the boys and their coach, one a doctor.
The 13 are having health evaluations and rehabilitation and are being taught diving skills. Food, electrolyte drinks, drinking water, medicine and oxygen canisters have been delivered to them. A major concern of the rescuers is that oxygen levels in their safe space could fall dangerously low.
Rescuers have been unable to extend a hose pumping oxygen all the way to where the boys are, but have brought them some oxygen tanks.
Rescuers are also pursuing other options to extract the boys, hoping that finding a shaft or drilling into the mountain in which the cave is located will lead them to a sort of backdoor entrance.