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BANGKOK – The race to save a dozen boys and their football coach from a cave complex inundated by the rain of Thailand turns into a ripping technical challenge just to find them.
While heavy seasonal rains continue The United States and Britain are looking at maps and evaluating infrared images, while cave divers struggle underground. Engineers from the oil company joined the mission and drilled in the cave to continue the search.
Up to now, the elements have the upper hand.
The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their coach, 25, entered the Tham Luang cave system in the north of the country after their Wild Boars team played a game on Saturday. After the mother of a boy set off an alarm, the researchers found bicycles, backpacks and soccer cleats left at the entrance to the cave
The 13 would be stuck somewhere in the corridor The search pierced Thailand and tested the military government
Scuba diving experts from Belgium, Great Britain, Laos and Germany converged on the site. to help Thai Navy SEAL teams. On Thursday, 32 US soldiers from US Pacific Command in Hawaii arrived. Other specialists include engineers from the Thai oil drilling company
PTT exploration and production
.
But rescuers face technical hurdles: the thickness of limestone limits the utility of thermal imaging equipment to locate survivors. The area has not been fully investigated, said
Krit Sawatmitr,
Head of the provincial department of irrigation, so they must rely on local knowledge to decide where to place the pumps to drain the water from the cave.
This is the peak of the rainy season in northern Thailand. Much of the Tham Luang complex is flooded from June to October and a five-hour torrential rain has raised water levels to the highest level since the start of the rescue mission.
On Thursday, rescuers dug a hole in the mountain. to drain the water faster, but it seemed to make little difference while heavy rains hit again. The pumps, about twenty in all, can not remove water as quickly as it happens. Early Friday, the water began to approach the entrance of the cave.
Divers have made little progress. Minister of the Interior
Anupong Paojinda
said pbadages are so tight that they can only use one oxygen tank at a time, which limits the distance that they can cover. Mud and debris add to the difficulty.
"We will continue our efforts, no matter how tired we are," provincial governor Narongsak Osatanakorn said Friday. Prime Minister
Prayuth Chan-ocha
Anmar Mirza of the National Cave Rescue Commission in the United States suggested that the best way in such circumstances is to look for alternative inputs
Thai rescue teams are now trying just that, using drones. equipped with infrared cameras to chase access points along a densely wooded ridge known as Monk's Series, which British experts have identified as a road that boys could have borrowed .
Up to now, none of the identified wells have been found to be appropriate. A promising perspective with no exit after 20 meters. On Friday, two members of the British team climbed a crevbade that they hoped to reach.
Rescuers are also trying to reach a large underground hall called Pattaya Beach, where the boys and their trainer could have found some respite. Teams try to drill small holes above this room and other rooms through which they can pbad fiber optic cables to monitor the interior.
The government took parents to one place while their ordeal continues. Buddhist monks held a prayer ceremony Thursday near the entrance of the complex. Other people in the predominantly Buddhist country have made offerings to the spirits with the aim of speeding up the return of the team.
Writing to James Hookway at [email protected]
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