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By Shibani Mahtani / The Washington Post
MAE SAI, Thailand – Thai officials were still trying Friday to develop a plan for the young football team and their coach trapped for nearly two weeks in a cave full of water, fearing that all available options remain too risky.
Officials said that they were rethinking the strategies after a diver's death by trying to place air tanks along a route through the vast cavern complex . By the end of Friday, they had still not accepted a rescue method and acknowledged that all remained risky and imperfect.
"We are trying to establish a plan," said Chiang Rai Governor Narongsak Osotthanakorn. "If the risk is small to get them out, then maybe we'll try."
Saturday will mark two weeks since the dozen young teammates and their coach found themselves at the bottom of the cave after sudden floods of heavy rains. exit – and now poses enormous challenges for a growing team of lifeguards around the world.
In a possible new attempt to avoid the waters, engineers working for the entrepreneur Elon Musk will be sent to Thailand. In a series of tweets, Musk said its drilling company Boring Co. and others would look for potential ways to reach the underground chamber in northern Thailand.
Drilling in the cave and extraction of boys from above has also been suggested. , speaking at a press conference, said only 18 of the 100 holes they found are potentially viable.
He compared the situation to the 2010 mining rescue in Chile, which took 69 days to bring the miners to the surface. Narongsak pointed out that any drilling process could take months.
"We try to exclude the impossible," he said.
The boys, he added, "can not dive right now" and are not ready to make the nearly six-hour trip out of the cave. At the same time, officials remain desperately preoccupied with the weather, with heavy rains expected in the days that could flood the cavern once again and make their efforts to pump water futile.
"We would like to take the minimum risk possible," he said. "But we can not wait for the rain."
The governor's midnight press conference, held just like a drizzle began to fall on the muddy and chaotic rescue site, pointed out that there is still no good option to release the boys and their coach after they were found alive Monday night
Guiding the boys through a dive was raised as the most likely possibility, but a retired Thai Navy SEAL prepares the boys for their dive by placing compressed air tanks around the cave S & # 39; s expressing at a press conference, a commander of the SEAL group of the Thai Navy said that the navy retired SEAL installed compressed air tanks along an exit route to help escape the cave when its own oxygen ran out. He was found unconscious around 1 am Friday. Efforts to revive him failed and he was later transferred to a hospital where he was pronounced dead upon his arrival.
"This is sad news," said Pasakorn Boonyalak, vice governor of Chiang Rai Province. "His job was to provide oxygen, but he did not have enough on the way home."
Fatality, the first rescue mission, is feared that a rescue mission can be heavy and even deadly for boys. 19659003] The diver was identified as Saman Kunam, a 38-year-old retired naval officer. His body was transported to a naval base in central Thailand, and then to his family in the north-east of the country.
"This mission is really scary and dangerous," said Pasakorn. But, "we will have to continue our mission as planned."
The diver was about one kilometer from where the 12 young footballers and their coach have been trapped since June 23rd.
Officials said Thursday night that boys are in poor health, weaker than their other teammates. It is not clear if a rescue effort would prioritize these three for an evacuation.
Thai Navy officials say that they are not discouraged by the death of the rescue diver, and will continue the mission as planned. Sending to the Washington Post, Thai commander SEAL Apakorn Yookongkaew said divers would take more precautions with boys to prevent injuries or deaths. Officials say that water levels continue to fall in the cavern, and that their priority is to bring oxygen lines to the cave section where the boys camp as they go. it is slowly exhausting.
Spell around the rescue site, and more rain is expected in the next few days. weeks or even months ago.
Four SEALs from the Navy are stationed with the boys to monitor their health status, provide them with food and check oxygen levels. They provided the boys with high-protein prepared meals, similar to army rations that the officers eat themselves. Authorities also continue to look for other ways for boys – including drilling through the cave so that they can be extracted without doing the perilous dive from five o'clock to the afternoon. entrance to the cave through muddy and black waters. 19659003] Commander Navy SEAL raised the possibility that the boys' hiding place on muddy ground above the water would not stay dry for long, as heavy monsoon rains could flood the cave again
. the hour, "said Apakorn, commander SEAL." We still have to wait and see what happens next, and if the water level will rise again. "
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