Boys not ready to flee Thai cave
‘They cannot dive at this time,’ official says
MAE SAI, Thailand – Forecasts of heavy rain could force rescuers to try to bring out a dozen members of a young soccer team from a flooded cave even though officials concede the boys have not had enough dive training to make the perilous journey through narrow passages.
“They cannot dive at this time,” Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters late Friday.
He said a British diver who returned from the cave late in the evening reported that the boys were still in good health and that oxygen levels in the cave were stable for the time being. Officials are working to get a 3-mile cable into the cave to help replenish the oxygen supply.
The 12 boys and their coach have been trapped in the cave since June 23 after water levels rose and forced them to take refuge on a plateau.
The boys are 11 to 16 years old, and their coach is 25.
However, not all of them can swim, and parts of the cave network where they became lost while exploring after soccer practice are still flooded all the way to the ceiling.
The danger was underscored Friday when a retired Thai navy SEAL diver, who was working to rescue the boys, died from a lack of oxygen in an overnight mission.
The diver, Saman Kunan, 38, was found unconscious about 1 a.m. Friday about a half-mile from where the young boys are huddled. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.