Oxygen levels made rescue touch and go
RESCUE leaders have revealed just how knife’s edge the mission was as the boys sitting on a tiny ledge started becoming drowsy as oxygen levels fell, with fears they would slip into comas.
Hollywood producers have been offering “serious money” for insider accounts of the cave rescue, with a heavy focus on Australian doctor Richard Harris. The Australian Federal Police in Thailand said they have been fielding steady offers from producers but pointed out that they are not a film agency.
No matter how Hollywood portrays the rescue, they will have trouble matching the drama and emotion of what has played out in Chiang Rai.
Rear admiral Apakorn Youkongkaew, head of Naval Special Warfare Command, said that when they realised time was running out for the Wild Boars, who had already been found but were becoming weak and distressed, they turned to their international partners.
“Oxygen was decreasing and the kids were becoming drowsy,” Apakorn said. “What will we do? We had such time constraints. Finally, we got a plan from the international divers. We approved it.”
The final plan involved placing hundreds oxygen cylinders and a guide rope along the route – and just going for it.
But first Dr Harris was tasked with giving the boys a mild sedative – the Thai prime minister said the drug was an anxiolytic, or anti-anxiety medication – so they could relax on the journey out. All they had to do was trust in the divers and let it happen.
Deputy SEALs commander, Captain Anan Sudawan, revealed how after the first pair of British divers reached the boys on a five-and-a-half hour journey, they had to make the agonising decision to leave the boys on the 5m x 2m ledge, promising to return.
When they arrived back at the base camp, Captain Anan sent four Thai Navy SEALs to the ledge, with food, water and foil blankets.
This caused new anxiety because the SEALs took 23 hours to return after reaching the boys. And only three of them returned. Lieutenant-Colonel Park Lohachoon, a diving medic, chose to stay with them.
Park, who would be the last man out of the cave when the rescue was completed, is now a Thai national hero.
Governor Narongsak Osotthanakorn said: “If the level of oxygen got to 12 per cent, the boys would go into a coma. Normal people need oxygen at 20 per cent, but there was only 15 per cent. And water was coming (in).
“We had to make the mission impossible a mission possible.”
WE HAD TO MAKE THE MISSION IMPOSSIBLE A MISSION POSSIBLE. GOVERNOR NARONGSAK OSOTTHANAKORN