Lull in rain allows Thailand cave search to pick up pace
MAE SAI, Thailand — The frantic effort to locate 12 boys and their soccer coach missing in a cave in Thailand for a week picked up pace as a break in the rain eased flooding in the system of caverns and more experts from around the world joined the anxious rescue mission.
The search in the northern province of Chiang Rai has been going slowly, largely because flooding has blocked rescuers from going through chambers to get deeper into the cave. Pumping out water hasn’t solved the problem, so the attention has focused on finding shafts on the mountainside that might serve as a back door to the blocked- off areas where the missing may be sheltering.
The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25- yearold coach entered the sprawling Tham Luang Nang Non cave after a soccer game on June 23, but near- constant rains have thwarted the search for them. Authorities have nevertheless expressed hope that the group has found a dry place within the cave to wait.
Reflecting that hope, a medical evacuation drill was held Saturday morning to see how long it would take to get rescued people out of the cave into 13 ambulances and to the nearest hospital.
Australian police and military personnel joined other multinational teams, including U. S. military personnel and experts from a British cave exploration club. China sent a six- person team of rescue and disaster experts to the cave, the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok said. The group has experience in lifesaving operations in Myanmar and Nepal, the embassy said.
Thai navy SEAL divers have been crucial to the search, but have been stymied by muddy water reaching the cave’s ceiling, forcing them to suspend operations again and again. With water levels dropping, they resumed dives Saturday, re- entering a chamber from which they had retreated earlier in the week. But they could not advance farther than 200 yards from their current position, the team reported.