Thailand: football team in the cave – several boys saved

The rescue operation in a Thai cave is progressing rapidly: special divers have brought the first of thirteen members of a boys' football team on the outside. The other members of the youth football team were to be released from the cave on Monday, said the Office of Emergency Preparedness.

There are contradictory indications about the number of boys saved. Defense Department spokesmen and civil protection officials said six children had been released. The chief of the rescue mission, on the other hand, spoke of four boys saved. They have already been brought to an ambulance and rescue helicopter clinic.

On the way to the opening, the youngsters had to dive long distances in the muddy water, sneak between the bottlenecks and fight against the current. Professional divers accompanied the boys. Since boys can hardly see anything in the muddy water, ropes were fixed on which they had to go. They are between 11 and 16 years old, their coach is a 25.

The rescue involves 90 divers, including 50 foreigners, as said the chief of the operation. The healthiest boys were first rescued. Rescuers therefore need at least ten hours to prepare before they can continue.

Diving through the cave with great erosion is already painful for professionals. The boys and their coaches had just become familiar with the basic rules of diving, and some of them do not even know how to swim. The dangerous nature of the business was demonstrated on Friday by the death of an experienced Thai diver who died on leaving the cave for lack of oxygen.

The quick release of boys indicates that the rescue operation was better and faster than expected. In an official statement from the Thai authorities shortly before the first rescue reports were known, it had been said that it was not predictable when the first boys could leave the cave. The drop in water levels in the partially flooded cave could have speeded up the rescue mission.

Time was running out

The forces had decided to launch the rescue operation due to lack of time due to the threat of rain. In addition, the oxygen content in the chamber of the cave in which the football team had fled.

The boys and their trainer entered the cave on June 23rd. Apparently, heavy rains surprised the group – and they sank deeper and deeper into the water mbades.