Thai Cave Rescue: The incredible operation that saved a football team and their trainer

Quite improbably, most of the escapes went off smoothly.

But on Trip # 11, to save one of the last football teammates stuck for 18 days in the cave, something s & rsquo; Was dangerously badly spent

the underground chamber felt a tug on the rope – the sign that one of the 12 boys and their coach would soon emerge flooded tunnels.

"Fish on," rescuers reported, recalling Major Charles Hodges of the US Air Force, mission commander for the United States team at the site.

Fifteen minutes have pbaded. Then 60. Then 90.

As rescuers anxiously waited, a diver who was sailing the submarine labyrinth with his eleventh teammate lost the guidewire. With visibility close to zero, he has not found the line. Slowly, he backed up, sinking deeper into the cave to find the rope, before the rescue could resume.

Finally, the survivor manages to pbad in safety.

It was a scary moment in what had been a surprisingly smooth rescue of the football team, the Wild Boars, who had survived the darkness of Tham Luang cave in Thailand, sometimes licking the lamb. water cold limestone walls. "The whole world was watching, so we had to succeed," said Kaew, a Thai Navy sailor who shook her head in amazement at how all the rescues worked. "I do not think we had any other choices."

Interviews with soldiers and officials detailed a rescue gathered from an amalgam of muscles and brains from around the world: 10,000 people participated, including 2,000 soldiers, 200 divers and representatives A family member shows a picture of four missing boys the day they were discovered in the cave Tham Luang ( AFP / Getty)

It took plastic cocoons, floating stretchers and a rope line that raised the players and the coach on the outcrops. The boys had been stranded on a rocky perch more than a mile underground. Extraction required long periods under water at freezing temperatures and kept them submerged for about 40 minutes at a time. "The most important part of the rescue was good luck," said General Chalongchai Chaiyakham, deputy commander of the 3rd Thai Army region, who helped with the operation. "So much could have gone wrong, but we managed to get the boys out."

"I still can not believe it worked," he said.

The risks were highlighted last Friday. a retired navy sailor, died in an underwater pbadage. Three frogmen were hospitalized after the fall of their air tanks. Fast currents pushed divers to deviate for hours, sometimes tearing off their masks.

More than 150 members of the Thai Navy, equipped with improvised equipment sometimes held with tape, helped create the escape route. A team of foreign and Thai troglodyte divers warrants death whenever they explore the cramped rooms of Tham Luang. Overseas military teams brought search and rescue equipment. The Americans provided the logistics while the British divers sailed on the most dangerous sections.

The new king of Thailand gave provisions and people from all over the country volunteered to cook meals for the rescuers, operate pumps to suck water and chase hidden cracks in the limestone formations at wild boars might be safe.

But, above all, the operation to save the boys team from 11 to 16 years old and their coach, said

"I do not know of any other rescue that put so much danger to the lifeguard and rescuer for a prolonged period, unless it's something like firefighters going to the area. World Trade Center, knowing that the building is on fire and is going to collapse, "said Hodges.

Tham Luang Cave is a rare place where a person can become completely isolated. There is no GPS, no wifi, no mobile phone service. The last known survey was conducted in the 1980s by a French speleology society, but many of its deepest recesses remain unmapped. Speleologists consider the cave to be one of the most difficult in the world.

When research began, estimates of distances between key points were inaccurate and location of uncertain landmarks, obscuring even the most basic badumptions. Nevertheless, local authorities knew enough about the dangers of Tham Luang to place a warning sign at the entrance to the cave to prevent entry during the rainy season, while sudden floods could flood his rooms. June, the day the wild boars made their trip to Tham Luang, but the boys had already ventured into the cave. They left their bikes and football boots and left with flashlights, water and snacks purchased to celebrate one of the boy's birthdays.

The last of the boys would not be released until July 10 – more than two weeks later. Seals and volunteer divers have thoroughly penetrated the cave, obtaining the necessary guidelines to ensure their safety (Reuters)

At the end of the first night, their parents were frantic. A contingent of sailors began making their way through the flooded cave at 4am the next day

But Thai frogmen were used to the free tropical waters, not the cold currents running through the cave. They lacked the equipment, and even less the expertise needed for the caves, where divers can not come to the surface in case of problems.

On June 25, Ruengrit Changkwanyuen, General Motors' Thai Regional Director, is among the first volunteers. divers arrive at the scene. Dozens of countries will follow, including Finland, Great Britain, China, Australia and the United States.

Even for someone as experienced in cave diving as Ruengrit, the force of the water at Tham Luang shocked him, tearing off his mask when he was unable to position himself directly in front of him. current

. a sharp drop of water and feel the water rushing towards you, "he said." It was a horizontal rise against the water with every move. "[19659002] Seals and volunteer divers penetrated the cave thoroughly, obtaining the necessary instructions to ensure their safety, and found traces of footprints that indicated the track of the football team. Monsoon flooded the area, the porous limestone cave absorbed the water like a sponge. "If you put your hand in front of you, it just disappeared," said Kaew, the Seal who escaped the last flood. could not see anything. "

An icy and slippery trap

Deep inside the cave, the water was so cold that the teeth of the Thai divers were chatting while they were resting during shifts 12 hours. Not having any helmets, the Seals attached a mixture of flashlights to their improvised headgear.

On July 10, there is little chance of discovering anything but bodies, two British divers working to extend a network of guide ropes.

Suddenly, they saw 13 emaciated people perched in the dark. The wild boars had lacked food and light, but had survived by drinking condensation on the walls of the cave.

Exultation at their discovery, however, quickly turned into anxiety. Captain Anand Surawan, Deputy Commander of the Thai Navy Seals, who was running an operations center in Tham Luang, suggested that the boys and their trainers stay in the cave for four months until the rainy season is over.

Three Thai seals disappeared during the operation for 23 hours, and when they finally reappeared, they were so weak for lack of oxygen that they were transported to the hospital .

Four days after the discovery of the boys, Samarn, the retired Marine Seal, who left his security station at the airport to volunteer, died while he was installing tanks at the airport. On an underwater supply route. His family refused an autopsy, but some Thai officials said that he was lacking air in his tanks. Others believe that he succumbed to hypothermia.

"I am very proud of him," said Samarn's father, Wichai Gunan, a car mechanic. "He's a hero who did everything he could to help the boys."

Thai schoolchildren save – in pictures

            

            
            

                
                
                

            

            
            
            

                
                
                

Meanwhile, efforts to drain the cave, through pumps and a makeshift dam, began to produce results. Cliffs and outcrops emerge from the darkness. The most waterlogged pbadage, which had taken five hours of navigation at the beginning, could now be crossed in two hours using guide ropes

The race to rain to start the # Escape

Last weekend, rescuers were eager to act. The rain was back in the forecast. The level of oxygen where boys took refuge had dropped to 15%. At 12%, the air would become deadly.

The operation continued to move with each variable: water, air, mud, or even the mental and physical state of young footballers. Because the boys could not swim, they needed full masks in which a rich mixture of oxygen was pumped.

But the masks brought by the American team were adult-sized. So they tested the equipment on volunteer kids in a local pool and discovered that by working the five straps as tight as possible, they would work.

The team of 30 people, which was an integral part of the planning, recommended that a child confined in a flexible plastic cocoon, called Sked, which is marketed as a rescue stretcher and is a standard part of the Equipment of the US Air Force team.

British divers sailed the wrapped boys through the most difficult underwater pbadages, while

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said the boys had received anti-anxiety medication

"They just had to stay there and be comfortable," said Hodges, head of the US team.

Once the boys finished the underwater part of their trip, which lasted about two hours, still difficult. The Navy Seals formed relay teams to raise wild boars on steep slopes where each step was slippery.

At one point, the plastic bullets containing the teammates were placed on the pipes of the water pumps, which constituted an impromptu slip. Ropes have hoisted the football team in the air so that they can swing beyond the particularly steep parts of the cave. In one leg of the escape, the cocoons were placed on floating stretcher, and the Thai frogmen pushed them along.