‘NOW THE REAL WORK STARTS’
The race is on to rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach who were found alive yesterday (NZ time) after 10 days trapped in a Thai cave, as rising floodwaters makes getting them out through treacherous underwater passages a difficult prospect.
Ben Reymenants, a diving school owner who has been helping with the rescue, said: ‘‘Now the real work starts, how to get them out. That’s the real challenge. Of course, it is fantastic news but they are very weak.’’
The group could only be reached after rescue divers enlarged a narrow, submerged passageway that had been too small to navigate while wearing air tanks.
‘‘We have to come up with a plan immediately,’’ Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osatanakorn said. ‘‘We are still racing against the water. If you look at the weather forecast, it is said that it will be raining the whole week.’’
The boys, aged between 11 and 16, and their 25-year-old coach had gone into the Tham Luang cave system after soccer practice 10 days ago. They were discovered alive, but hungry, on a rise within the cave.
They are weak and have no training as scuba divers. Even in the best circumstances, diving in caves is difficult and dangerous.
‘‘There’s been talk about training the kids to cave dive out of the cave and I think logistically that’s going to be near-on impossible,’’ said Peter Wolf, the national director of Cave Diving Association Australia. ‘‘Psychologically, it’s a very, very tall task for a child,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s a very hostile environment, it’s very confronting, and for kids that can’t even swim I don’t think it’s feasible for it to happen. If the kids panic, it could potentially put their lives and the lives of rescuers at risk.’’
Wolf agreed with experts who said they could be trapped underground in the cave for weeks, or even months, as long as it does not flood.
‘‘From what I understand they are actually in an air bell, so if they can maintain positive pressure inside that air bell, which might be as simple as releasing air from a scuba tank, hopefully they can negate the rise of the water enough to be able to stay high and dry.
‘‘If they can keep them in the cave and keep them comfortable and meet all their core needs for survival, hopefully nothing will go wrong.’’
Energy gels, food and medical help had to be brought in by expert divers to restore the children to strength before any rescue attempt could be made.
Narongsak said the group had all had an ‘‘informal’’ medical evaluation inside the cave and most were in stable condition. None were in critical condition.
Of the evacuation options, drilling to reach the boys is the least viable, as getting the necessary drilling equipment to the mountain atop the cave would be daunting and the process timeconsuming. Despite more than a week of searching, no other entry to the cave has been found.
‘‘My main priority is still pumping out the water,’’ said Narongsak, the governor of the region, at a news conference yesterday.
But, so far, the water levels have proved hard to lower. That leaves bringing the group out using scuba equipment.
‘‘You may have unusual current, you may have conditions which make it extremely difficult to navigate dangerous water with low visibility,’’ said Dean Wiseman, a spokesman for the National Speleological Society and a cave explorer for about 30 years.
For boys in a weakened state, who are unlikely to have ever dived before, the evacuation will pose significant risks.
‘‘Trying to take non-divers through a cave is one of the most dangerous situations possible, even if the dives are relatively easy,’’ Anmar Mirza, a leading American cave rescue expert, told The Associated Press.
But the challenges can be surmounted.
‘‘Even if they can’t swim, a rescue diver should be able to guide them along,’’ Lavonas said. ‘‘The diver will have lights. Obviously, these are young boys and they’re terrified.
‘‘It’s not going to be an easy rescue, but it should be OK.’’Fairfax