Thai Cave Rescue

[Jack the Stripper]

Anyone else been following this rescue operation of the Thai kids soccer team and their coach?

It's dominating the news here in Australia. Such a delicate and dangerous rescue operation, not only for the kids but also for the divers/rescuers. One diver has already died.

Apparently it's a four hour dive each way through the tunnels dark waters and at one point the tunnel narrows to 60cm and their air tanks have to be removed to swim through the tiny space.
Also time is against them as they are expecting monsoonal rains in the coming days which could flood the cave system even more. Unbelievable!

Latest reports are two of the twelve are out and a 3rd and 4th are on their way.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

It was the first story on the news today, it's very fascinating.

[Vyn]

Yep, been following it for two weeks. What a harrowing ordeal.

[Typhon]

Yep, been following it for two weeks. What a harrowing ordeal.

Ditto.  This would be a frightening experience for most adults.  For these young boys, it has got to be terrifying.

[Tyr66]

Here also the event is 24/24 on news tv channels.

still don't understand why this young football coach decided to send these kids in a cave with a clear danger. The return takes 5 hours ... More than a thousand people mobilized.
6 children rescued out of 12 now. Hope an evacuation as fast as possible.

[Jack the Stripper]

I agree TYR, what the hell was the coach thinking to take them into a potentially dangerous situation in the first place? They obviously weren't planning on going in as far as they ended up but when the rain came and the cave started to flood it forced them further and further in to escape the flood waters, but still, it's kinda common sense not to enter underground caves in a place that is in the middle of monsoon season and especially given heavy rain was forecast.

Here's a detailed diagram of what the rescuers and the twelve boys and coach have to deal with to get out.

Hopefully this has a happy & successful outcome for all involved.

[Tyr66]

^^^Thanx for sharing Jack.
superb illustration to understand the real difficulties of their return.
incredible situation nevertheless.
I think the poor and unconscious coach will undergo a very serious debriefing after this unique rescue.
At least a original scenario to make a movie.

[Jack the Stripper]

^^ Wouldn’t surprise me if a Hollywood movie was in the early planning stages already.

[Charger]

Been on the news and papers here too...

Quite an unfortunate event indeed.

But frankly though I gotta say no matter what kind of a team building exercise it was meant to be it was a beyond stupid decision to go to those caves to begin with...

I hope they'll all come out safe and sound.

[Jack the Stripper]

Successful day with another four boys rescued which brings the total to eight. With some luck the remaining five will be rescued tomorrow. 

You have to commend the rescuers and the whole operation with the meticulous planning and dedication that's gone into it including flying in the very best experts in the field from around the world.

[BOGBLAST]

A very heroic story. Let's hope it continues to go well.

[Zzzptm]

They are all out now. I am happy with that, even though one diver died in the rescue attempts.

That coach, however... he will have some serious explaining to do. I've been in charge of both classrooms and soccer teams and at no point in my experience would I have ever said, "Yeah, let's all go into the cave and wander around a bit before we head home."

[Vyn]

The real damning part of this, to me, is that the cave has a massive sign out front telling potential spelunkers to stay the hell out of it during certain times of the year. To avoid, you know, exactly what happened. So I think the first question they'll ask the coach is, "are you literate?".

Very happy that they all got out!

[Typhon]

They are all out now. I am happy with that, even though one diver died in the rescue attempts.

Well this is the thing that really disturbs me.  If they could have all been rescued with no casualties, then we could say "bad decision, lesson learned."  But 1 professional diver lost his life in the effort, and that sucks! 

[Zzzptm]

Agreed with Vyn and Typhon... we wouldn't have to be riveted with nearly as many heroic rescue attempts if people would follow warning signs and take proper precautions.

Heroic rescues after an earthquake? Absolutely. No way to know when those are coming, we are going to have heroic rescues.

Heroic rescues of people who wandered off a marked trail? Those trails are marked FOR A REASON... I've heard nightmares about people hiking the Appalachian Trail on their own (first warning, hiking alone on that particular trail) and then stepping off the trail only 2 meters into the underbrush so that they can vacate their bladder, and then having to get rescued because the underbrush is so bad, you can't find the trail that's only 2 meters away.

And even then, some people aren't rescued in time, so their bodies are found roughly 2 meters from the trail...

Warning signs and safety precautions are there for a very very good reason.