THE THAI CAVE RESCUE      

Truly the rescue of the twelve soccer boys and their coach from the cave in Thailand is one of the world’s greatest rescues in history.  It had millions of people on edge as they got the daily reports of the attempts and finally the successful rescue of these boys and their coach.                                       

It had been more than two weeks since the young boys Thailand soccer team and its soccer coach became trapped inside a cave they were exploring in northern Thailand. The country’s annual monsoons flooded the cave while they were still inside that subsequently prompted a massive search and rescue effort. There had been no contact with the boys, since they went missing with their 25-year-old coach two weeks earlier. 

Rescuers eventually found their bicycles, football boots and backpacks near the cave and discovered handprints and footprints further in. Police Chief Komsan Saardluan told Sky News that parts of the cave get flooded to a height of up to 16 feet during the rainy season, which runs from June to October. A sign outside the site warns visitors not to enter the cave during the rainy season between July and November.

The families upon learning that the boys were in the cave, flocked to the cave and sat and waited as rescuers battled heavy rains to search the flooded system of caves where the group was thought to be trapped.

The cave has an impressive entrance chamber that is about 260 feet long and leads to an easy walk along spacious passageways that last for about a half a mile. The chamber the group was in is about 2.5 miles from the entrance of the cave, which is thought to be about 10 miles long and cut into a mountainside in far northern Thailand near the border with Myanmar. Much of the cave  is a string of narrow passageways that lead to wide chambers and then back to narrow passageways. The rocky and muddy ground makes several changes in elevation along the way. At ten kilometres in length, the Tham Luang cave is one of Thailand’s longest and one of the toughest cave to navigate with its snaking chambers and narrow passageways. Normally, no one would go that far into the cave during the rainy season as it floods many of the tunnels. When the boys and their coach went through the cave’s tunnels, they were dry. But when a rain storm occurred while they were deep in the cave, the tunnels filled up with water. They were subsequently trapped deep inside the cave. 

The coach of the youth soccer team who led them into the flooded cave in Thailand reportedly did it as part of an initiation ritual, according to a rescuer. The boys had left their backpacks and shoes outside the cave and then the boys waded into the cave and tried to make it to the end of the tunnel which they considered the ritual as a  initiation for local young boys to write their names on the wall and then make it back to their backpacks  and shoes.

Police refused to answer questions on whether the 25-year-old coach should be charged for leading the children into the cave, the Khaosod English paper reports. Lawyer Ananchai Chaiyadech said it’s likely the coach will escape charges as it appeared he didn’t have intent to put the boys in danger as it hadn’t started raining when he led them inside. When the group initially went into the cave, they noticed high water but their coach foolishly didn’t think anything of it.  That was a stupid conclusion on his part especially since the rainy season had just begun.

Previously, on the way out of the cave, four cavers found a 20-foot-long passage that sloped at a 45-degree angle. The passage was filled with water Three of the cavers managed to leave the cave but the fourth member, a novice caver, became stuck in the passage and was immersed in cold water for a minute or two. The fifth member of the group managed to free his friend from the passage, but they couldn’t leave with the water rising. They ended up staying down in the cave for 14 hours until the water receded, and they made it out of the cave themselves  although rescuers were standing by. Moving about in caves with narrow passages is very risky to say the least

 Efforts to rescue the stranded soccer team was tense as officials were in a race with the approaching heavy rains and depleting oxygen levels inside the cave. Workers labored around the clock to pump water out of the cave. 

 The twelve young members of a youth soccer team and their 25-year-old assistant coach entered Thailand's Tham Luang Nang Non cave on June 23 after a practice match. They were cut off from exiting the massive cave when a rainstorm flooded the exit.

The 25-year-old soccer coach led his youth team into the Thai cave complex where the group was stuck for more than two weeks.  He is a former Buddhist monk who's cheated death at least once before. Ekapol Chantawong, affectionately known as “Ake,” was trapped with the team of 12 boys whose ages ranged from 11 to 16 years of age.

David Spiegel, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University’s medical school said, “Adolescents are especially social creatures, and having friends with them as well as their coach would be a tremendous help,” Imagine if you will how difficult it would be for you if you were trapped in a cave all alone.

A Calgary-based explorer who was trapped in a partly flooded cave for days says her heart goes out to the members of a boys' soccer team as they await rescue from an underground cavern in Thailand.

If safety concerns forced the boys to stay in the cave for an extended period of time, it would be important for their mental health for there to be organization and daily routines rather than do nothing. They could do exercises and mind games. Of course, later, there was a telephone line brought to them so they could talk with their parents, siblings and friends. 

 

There would have to be daily hygiene routines, regular meal times, age-appropriate cognitive activities, regular physical exercise to the extent feasible in limited space, religious/spiritual practices, and specific times for daily briefings on their situation and for communicating with their families.

 

 

On July 2^nd, British divers located the missing team two weeks  after they had disappeared. At the time the boys were found, water levels in the cave were rising more than 15 centimetres every hour.

More monsoon rains wereon the way. After a break in the weather in recent days, the Thai Meteorological Department forecast for Chiang Rai calls for light rain followed by heavy rain starting and continuing through July 10. Such storms could raise water levels in the cave again and complicate the supply missions or any potential extrication, if one was needed. Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda said as a result of the forecast, the boys may need to swim out using diving gear. He said they would be brought out via the same complicated route through which their rescuers entered.

Emergency services attempted to pump water out of the cave complex after the rain flooded the caves and the passages that link them to the boys and their coach.

A team of Thai Royal Navy SEAL divers, who re-entered the cave complex earlier hadn't found any trace of the boys or their coach.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said that the government had not ruled out hope of finding the boys and the coach alive. He said, "We are still optimistic they are all alive. Even though they may not have anything to eat, they should have water to drink."

People can go for a limited time without food or water, but the temperature around them can have an effect on their chances of survival. But several boys were reportedly suffering from malnutrition after going without food for 10 days.

For people trapped in the wild in general, dehydration is a quick killer because people generally can't go longer than a few days without water. Depending on the conditions, someone might be able to survive for up to a week if it's not too hot and they're in the shade. But most people would have a hard time surviving longer than 100 hours or so.

Presumably, the team drank the rainwater that was flooding the caves. This carried risks as well. If they were to pick up an infection from the water that caused diarrhea, that could kill them faster however, it was likely the only option they had in order to survive.

Food is another issue. Experts believe that healthy adults can survive four to six weeks without eating before starving to death. But each individual is different: People with more body fat who are in temperate conditions and have adequate hydration could potentially survive longer. When rescuers were still searching for the boys, the Chiang Rai governor told reporters they thought most people could survive 3o days without food. If the boys were thin, their survival rate could be less.  But young boys might not have the same energy reserves as adults. Luckily, the boys had been brought energy gels, pork, sticky rice, milk, and more to help them build up their strength.

Vernon Unsworth, a spelunker (someone who explores caves) who lives in Chiang Rai, said that the conditions in the cave are difficult to deal with.

He also said, "The water is rising all the time. Physically it's not a hard cave; it's just very long," he told CNN from the rescue site.

"I think we just have to wait for the navy SEALs to see what they can do and how far they can go into the cave. The conditions further on will not be easy so we just have to wait and keep our  fingers crossed."

He said that a big pool of water was continually rising in a section of the cave about 3 kilometers (1.7 miles) from the entrance. He also said that the next six to eight hours would be crucial.

Mr. Kotcha of the national parks authority said that there was around 40 chambers inside the Tham Luang Nang Non cave—both small and big ones. Rescuers suspected that the missing boys were still in the main chamber of the cave.

Thai Interior Minister General, Anupong Paochinda said that the divers could only work intermittently due to the restrictions of their equipment. He said the rescue team was trying to reduce the water level to prevent it from "reaching the ceiling of the passage" so that there would be an air pocket for the rescuers.

He also said, "The water is muddy; it has also still blocked the passage into the chamber.” The SEALs had switched to a oxygen tank with a  closed-circuit system, which allowed them to dive up to three hours at a time. Arrangements for more water pumps and electricity cable to drain water were brought to the cave. 

A total of 19 divers assisted with the rescue operations, some coming from other countries.

The twelve boys and their football coach trapped in a flooded cave for nine days. To get the boys out, divers had to guide each of them while diving through the cave’s dark, tight and twisting passages.

By all accounts, the dives into the cave have been a challenge even for experts in caving and diving who needed days to reach the boys. Getting the boys out could go faster due to the installation of dive lines, extra oxygen tanks left along the way and glow sticks lighting the path. Still, the British Cave Rescue Council said, "Any attempt to dive the boys and their coach out will not be taken lightly because there are significant technical challenges and risks to consider.

The massive rescue effort had for days been hampered by heavy rains that flooded the Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand, blocking access to chambers where it was hoped the group would be found alive.

Divers took advantage of a brief window of good weather to edge further into the cave, with the water levels dropping slowly but steadily every hour thanks to round-the-clock pumping.

They had hoped to find the boys and their coach earlier on another ledge but they had retreated 300-400 metres further as that ledge was submerged,

When Chiang Rai, the provincial governor broke the news of their discovery, it delighted the Thai nation which had anxiously followed every twist and turn of the dramatic effort to save them. the boys and their coach.

The group was found about three miles from the cave entrance by two British divers who were both experts on cave rescues.

“We found all thirteen of them all safe we will take care of them until they can be moved from the cave.” move,” Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters, who broke into spontaneous applause and cheering. “We will bring food to them and a doctor who can dive. I am not sure they can eat as they have not eaten for a while.”

Their skinny faces illuminated by a flashlight, the Thai soccer teammates stranded more than a week in a partly flooded cave said they were healthy on a video released as heavy rains forecast for later that week could complicate plans to safely extract them. Meanwhile, the boys and their coach were given food and medicine.

In addition to food and medical supplies, the boys had been given access to telephone lines so that they could talk to their families. They were also treated for cuts and each of the 13 were given a sheet of tin-foil to keep them warm. Dr Harris, from Adelaide in Australia, has decades of diving experience. He was the one who examined the boys in the cave and gave the green light so the rescue operation could go ahead Had the boys been too weak, a rescue attempt by diving out would have been too dangerous for them.

According to media reports, Dr. Harris has taken part in cave diving explorations in Australia, China, Christmas Island and New Zealand. A anaesthetist by training, he has also been specialising in expedition medicine and retrieval operations.

For the time being though, the focus remained on building up the boys’ strength so that they could make the journey out. Aphakorn said. “We don’t have to rush. We are trying to take care of them and make them strong. Then the boys will come out to see you guys,”

Loved ones, friends and teachers of the “Wild Boar” football team refused to give up hope of seeing the young players again, holding an increasingly desperate vigil at the cave entrance. Thailand had been a nation transfixed by the plight of the “Wild Boar” team, with social media lighting up in support of the group and the country’s deeply spiritual reflexes stirred into action. Shamans and Buddhist monks have held prayers and given offerings at the cave imploring mountain “spirits” to return the boys safely.

The diving team’s travails appeared far from over with a complex operation predicted to try to bring the group several kilometres through the cave which was still partially submerged.

If it was too difficult at that time of the year to being them out of the cave, the authorities would then supply the group with four months’ worth of food and also begin teaching the boys how to scuba dive. The reference to four months most likely meant that the authorities were considering waiting until the rainy season ended in October to begin the rescue.

Learning how to scuba dive is easy. I know. I was taught how to scuba drive in a large swimming pool. I felt at ease. However, I was an adult then. For young boys to be taught scuba diving and then swimming in a narrow dark tunnel is something quite different.

Psychologically, it's a very tall task for a child to swim under water in a very hostile environment. It's even more confronting for the boys that can't even swim and if they panic, it could potentially put their lives and the lives of rescuers at risk.

Although water levels in the cave had dropped a bit, the diving conditions remained difficult and any attempt to dive in the submerged tunnels the boys and their coach would be doing could not be taken lightly because there are significant technical challenges and risks to consider.

While diving may be the group’s best hope for escape, it was still a very dangerous option. And the kind of diving these boys would have to learn to do was not the kind of diving most people are familiar with. For boys in a weakened state, who were unlikely to have ever dived before, the evacuation would obviously pose significant risks to them and their rescuers. Trying to take non-divers through a cave is one of the most dangerous situations possible, even if the dives are relatively easy. And taking them underwater can be very scary for anyone, be they trained of not trained especially if it is hard to see anything. That is why the boys would be towed by their rescuers.

It will be diving in what is effectively muddy water, possibly fast-flowing, with no sense of direction. The boys wouldn’t be able to tell what’s up, down or sideways while in the dark. 

To prepare for any type of diving rescue, the boys would have to be assessed for hydration, adequate fuel supply, adequate food so that their glucose level is adequate, and would also have to have practice dives as well.

Scores of divers — including foreign experts — had been sent into the cave with hundreds of oxygen tanks, establishing a base camp inside the chambers over the weekend.

Thai Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda considered the possibility that the boys and their coach might have to dive out of the cave under water before bad weather sets in later in the week. That would mean that the boys and their coach would have to be trained in the use of diving equipment.

The divers rescuing the kids have a few options before them. They could use full-face masks, they could use a mask and a separate breathing apparatus, or they could even use helmets with air supplied from the surface. The latter would be difficult because if the hoses got jammed, the boys would be trapped.

The rescue divers would really take control over everything, so as long as they had an air supply, the rescue divers could even literally tow ach of them along the passageways. Experienced divers were wary of taking out the boys through the dark and dangerous waters in the cave, especially since the boys and their coach  were not fully trained in underwater diving.

But how much air supply they need was another question. The boys and their coach had travelled about two kilometres into the cave and to breathe for that long, they would need more than just two or three cylinders. The rescuers were going to have to place staging cylinders on various ledges that weren’t submerged in order for the boys and their coach including their rescuers to swim under water the distance in order to reach the entrance of the cave safely.

The alternative was that the boys and their coach could spend three months down in the cave, with divers supplying them with food and comfort items until the weather dries up the passageways.  That alternative was not satisfactory to anyone involved in this drama since Thailand’s rainy season can last up until to October.

The governor said the 13 may not be extracted at the same time, depending on their condition. They've practiced wearing diving masks and breathing, in preparation for the diving possibility.

Even if they couldn’t swim, a rescue diver was able to guide them along," said Dr. Eric Lavonas, an emergency physician and trained diving medicine specialist. The divers had lights. Obviously, these were young boys and they were terrified.

Each rescue diver took one child and would almost certainly would have use a harness to keep a grip on the child  whose regulator, a breathing device, would most likely be attached to the tank worn by the rescue diver.

One serious concern is the possibility that the boys could be at risk for decompression sickness, or the bends, if the air they have been breathing in the cave has been under pressure from the rising water.

One serious concern is the possibility that the boys could be at risk for decompression sickness, or the bends, if the air they have been breathing in the cave has been under pressure from the rising water.

Eight of the 12 boys trapped with their soccer coach in a labyrinthine flooded cave complex in northern Thailand had been freed, authorities adding that the time for rescuing the others would depend on the weather. Those who were free from the cave obviously were very happy and even  in good health. Once outside the cave, they had asked for “khao pad grapao—a Thai dish of meat fried with chili and basil and served over rice. They got what they asked for. As an aside, when my wife and I were in Thailand in 2000, we also ordered the same meal. Soon after, the remaining boys and their coach was free from the cave.

Thailand’s Department of Mental Health said hospitals had been making preparations to care for the boys’ and would monitor them until their mental health is fully regained. They were also working with the families to prepare them on how to interact with the boys once they get out, such as not asking them for details about what they endured. Some events in our lives are best forgotten.

Their re-entry into the world outside the cave was  predictably be one of massive attention from family, friends and the media. It could be overwhelming.  However, the world soon loses interest in rescue stories and moves on to the next story. For this reason, it is extremely important that these survivors and their rescuers not be forgotten and the boys be closely monitored so that they can receive the best possible support that they will need in order to cope with the notoriety of their adventure. 

One of the Thai navy divers,  Petty Officer Saman Gunan, age 39,  was working as part of the effort to rescue the 12 boys and their soccer coach. He was trapped in a flooded tunnel and died from lack of oxygen.  The dead diver was a former Thai SEAL and was working in a volunteer capacity. He died during an overnight mission in which he was placing oxygen canisters in various locations. I am sure that the boys, their coach and their families will not forget the sacrifice that the deceased diver gave to save the members of the soccer team.  This underscores the risks of extracting the boys and their coach from the depths of the cave.

The boys told the rescue teams, including expert diver Claus Rasmussen, that during their nine days trapped in the cave, they had heard dogs barking, roosters crowing and children playing. Our minds can play tricks on us when we are under stress.

While the boys were in the cave, they asked a Navy SEAL   for World Cup soccer results and updates.  There was an offer for them to be taken to the final gam e, all expenses for them and their families. Unfortunately, they had to remain in the hospital for further treatment so they missed the opportunity. 

Numerous Thai special forces were part of the rescue efforts. Most notable was doctor Pak Loharnshoon and three yet-to-be-named divers who volunteered to stay by the boys' side after they were found underground.      

Hundreds of officials from more than 20 government agencies, along with private companies, were involved in the search. Rescuers came from at least six countries. One came from British Columbia, a province of Canada.       

This event in history was a remarkable event that will always be in the minds of those interested in exploring caves. I have been in six large caves—two in the United Sates, one in Hawaii, one in Cuba and two in Europe. I was never in danger since they were organized tours.