Tham Luang Cave in Thailand: The rising water level threatens the world of the trapped boy

On Saturday, it will be two weeks since twelve boys and their football coach are trapped in the Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand, caught between hope and fear. Although they were discovered Monday by British divers, emaciated, but good. But now, approaching a rain front that threatens to dump new flood waters into the cave. Rescuers now use the term "forced evacuation" if the water level in the cave increases dangerously.

Several Thai elite soldiers and doctors are 24 hours a day with the prisoners. The boys get liquid food, soon the phone line should be on the outside, the cable is pulled. A first phone fell into the water, the replacement device is en route. The trapped guys seem motivated to get out as quickly as possible. But it is not so simple.

Tranquilizers could be given to the boy as needed

Currently, non-swimmers are trained to move in the water and to breathe with a diving mask. It only takes three to four hours to pick up elite soldiers trained at the rescue team command center, including climbing pbadages and a dive in a place so narrow that divers can not cross them with their oxygen bottle. Special divers work to chisel the pbadage. From the command center, there are still two kilometers to the exit. In addition, there are strong currents and cloudy water, which poses a risk of panic attacks even for inexperienced divers. Time is running out

Narongsak, Task Force officer, said the rescue team was trying to "estimate the time remaining before a forced evacuation" if the water level in the cave was growing critically. The boys would then be accompanied along a guide rope, without a view, with only a cone of brownish light in the black water. Boys could also receive tranquilizers when needed, with the stronger ones followed by the weaker ones.

Meanwhile, new access to the cave is also being sought where rescuers could drill a well for an alternative evacuation. A 30-member rescue team combs the ground surface above the cave. But the jungle zone is inaccessible, especially since the Tham Luang cave has never been mapped, it is not clear where the traps are. The rock on the spot could be several hundred meters thick.