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MAE SAI, Thailand – Ambulances and a helicopter were seen leaving the cave site where a youth football team had been stranded. Four members of the team had been rescued Sunday night, according to the Facebook page of the Thai unit Navy SEAL, which directs the operation. Two were examined in a field hospital in Chiang Rai, local officials said.
More rescues were expected for the 12 young players and their coach, who had been trapped since June 23rd by floodwaters in a six-mile dark cave system in northern Thailand.
According to the authorities, the first rooms the group will have to cross – all flooded a few days ago – are now dry. Oxygen levels also stabilized following fears that the room in which the group was filling with carbon dioxide from members of the major rescue operation.
According to a chart released by the Thai government, two divers will be paired with each person being rescued, and they will be equipped with a face mask connected to a compressed air tank. In particularly narrow parts of the cave, the tanks will be unloaded from their backs and rolled instead.
Officials said the conditions are as perfect as possible for the rescue attempt, taking into account the weather conditions. the cave, as well as the health of the boys, which was evaluated in the cave by an Australian doctor. Heavy rains are about to fall on the lush mountain range that houses the cave, adding urgency to the rescue.
"Children are so strong physically and mentally," said Narongsak Osatanakorn, outgoing governor of Chiang Rai Province. 19659007] A military helicopter takes off on Sunday near the cave complex. (Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters)
But experts have warned that the mining efforts would carry a significant risk, underscored by the death of a retired Thai marine SEAL early Friday when he ran out of time. Oxygen during a dive. He was putting compressed air tanks along the exit road when he fell unconscious and died soon after.
[ The death of the Thai diver forces the officials to count with the danger of the mission]
According to Tony Haigh, a spokesman for the British Cave Rescue Council, two of whose members were British divers from rescue who found the boys for the first time. The other risk is to get trapped by an obstacle that they can not see because the divers' field of view will be limited in muddy and brown water.
"There is clearly a risk of panic if they are not used to diving environment.It happens to adults in the open water, no matter the kids in a dark cave," said Haigh. None of the boys can swim, but they have received extensive diving lessons since their discovery. "I do not doubt that some will be more worried than others."
Young footballers and their coach have been trapped in the vast cave system since June 23rd, when monsoon rains flooded the cave as they explored. The group was found Monday in a small cave – after nine days – to launch an international rescue effort of more than a thousand people.
The international team of divers from the United States, Australia, China and Europe. It includes British divers from the rescue group who found the team for the first time Monday night.
The authorities for days had blocked a firm decision on the best way to extract the boys and their coach. Friday evening, Narongsak acknowledged that all options seemed too risky and that officials were looking for reinforcements to the diving, frightened by the death of the SEAL
The authorities said that efforts to drill from the top of the mountain have failed. practicable openings. The impending rains have made this option less viable, as it would take too much time.
Narongsak said that rescuers evaluated the condition of the boys and also informed their families, who are aware and who support the bailout. The officials raced against the clock so that the boys were physically strong enough and mentally prepared for a trip that would probably last at least five hours.
"They are willing to do anything," he said. attempt was announced Sunday morning, ambulances were seen zipping a muddy path to take their stations. Officials have moved the large contingent of media away from the relief site to make room for those working directly on the extraction. They did not specify how the boys would be transported from the entrance of the cave when they would be released, but several helicopters were waiting for days, ready to bring them to the airport. hospital to be treated.
His euphoria and anxiety fears invaded the world, pushing experts from all over to look into possible extraction methods that would minimize the risks for boys. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter that his team was working on a child-sized submarine pod that would be "small enough to fit through tight spaces". We did not know if his method would be ready in time.
Experts in mental health and medicine have warned that even if the team comes out safely, they risk fighting for weeks or even months of mental and physical trauma. Officials had previously said that three members of the group, including the coach, were weak and malnourished. According to Jacob Hyde, an badistant professor of military psychology at the University of Denver, who studies the reactions to confined and confined environments, depression, anxiety, anger, and the inability to do so. adapt to normal sleep patterns are as much psychological effects
. He added that the cultural context of Thailand would probably help them after the test, he said.
"Cultural factors have and will continue to play here," Hyde said. "If it was a group of boys who did not know each other and were trapped in that cave, the process and the results would probably be a little different."
The badistant coach with the boys in the cave, Ekapol Chanthawong, used his novice monk experience to help the team stay calm through meditation, officials and parents said.
[‘He loved them more than himself’: How a 25-year-old former monk kept the Thai soccer team alive]
The coach and the boys communicate with their parents through letters, telling their loved ones not to worry.
"If we can go out, please, can you get me to eat at the seared pork restaurant?" ", Wrote one of the boys in a letter posted on the Facebook page of Thai Navy SEALs. . "I like you."
In another post on the Facebook page, the SEALs said their group was united to bring out the Moo Pa, or Wild Boars, posting the message with a photo of three people clutching their wrists. 19659027] "Hooyah", the post said in English
Panabad Wutwanich and Jittrapon Kaicome contributed to this report.
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