Boys from an under-16 soccer team and their coach wait to be rescued after they were trapped inside a flooded cave in Chiang Rai, Thailand, July 3, 2018, in this still image taken from a Thai Navy Seal handout video.
Posted on 07/03/2018 9:26:53 PM PDT by cba123
Rescuers in Thailand are racing against time to get a youth soccer team out of the partially flooded cave where they have been trapped for more than a week as forecasters predict heavy rains in the coming days.
(please see full article at the link)
(Excerpt) Read more at voanews.com ...
Why don't they just provide air tanks, and a rope?
(Maybe I am not understanding)
But it seems to me if they can find them, they sure should be able to rescue them.
No?
I wonder if the cave exploration, was a spur of the moment decision?
Boys from an under-16 soccer team and their coach wait to be rescued after they were trapped inside a flooded cave in Chiang Rai, Thailand, July 3, 2018, in this still image taken from a Thai Navy Seal handout video.
I’d think they don’t want folks trying to get out, even with scuba gear, from getting snagged and drowning.
“It’s one of the longest cave systems in Thailand. It’s about 10 km (6.2 miles) long,” Reymenants said. “They’re exactly stuck in the middle of this system, meaning that yes, it’s a huge way to make it through, especially while swimming.”
But because most of the children, whose ages range from 11 to 16, can’t swim, the easiest rescue option would be to “keep pumping water out of the cave.”
3.1 miles is a long way in a situation like this.
How deep is it — how far down would a mine shaft have to be dug to get into that chamber?
The way I understand it is, it was extremely difficult and hazardous to get to them, requiring Navy SEAL-level skills, so if they tried to extract them, the kids would need diving skills and gear, and being untrained divers would be at risk of panicking but there is nowhere to come up. So they could panic or make some simple mistake with their gear and drown. It’s apparently a long way to go.
Footage of the group, shot by the British divers who reached them first, showed the boys and their coach huddled on a ledge surrounded by water. They said they were hungry and asked what day it was and if they could leave.
The boys were eventually located around 200 metres further on, sheltering on a ledge surrounded by water, 2km (1.24 miles) from the main entrance and up to 1km below the surface. After their discovery by two specialist cave divers from the UK, the Wild Boars were visited by medics and other rescuers who supplied food and water.
1,640.42 feet.
I can’t believe it. They finally found a way to make soccer exciting.
LOL!
Lot’s of contradicting measurements.
My guess... they’ll try to dig.
That is a sort of pickle.
I notice the item, about “passage is too narrow for diver to wear oxygen tank”.
Hadn’t realized how deep back into the mountain the group is.
Thanks.
I did not know either. I had an excuse to learn just now.
No, the coach and team are reported to be very familiar with the cave, which may be why they knew to find that safe spot when they discovered they were cut off from the entrance.
If they are 1/2 mile down, is that a long way to tunnel in that specific area? I don’t know and I doubt I could easily find out.
Some of the passages they have to go through are very tight and underwater, and diving equipment can get hung up or divers can entangle each other; the kids aren’t experienced divers and have to be taught how to breathe from tanks and even if they pick up the on-the-spot training quickly, there’s a huge risk one or more might panic or get confused trying to squeeze through these passages in water that is murky and maybe get stuck, blocking escape for the rest. After going without food for such a long time they are going to be a little weak. The rescuers’ll have to have a plan for anything that could go wrong before pushing ahead.
The deepest mine in the world is 5 times that, but half a mile of dirt might be a challenge all right. One would also not want the digging make the chamber collapse. Getting people out one at a time through the passages might be the only way, maybe with tethered air supplies.
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