Israeli technology helps Thai rescuers attempt to reach the football team trapped



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The emergency mobile communication technology developed by the Israeli company Maxtech Networks is being used by rescue teams working to rescue 12 teenagers and their 25-year-old coach who have been trapped for nearly two weeks in a cave flooded in Thailand. The teenagers, a men's football team, went missing on June 23 after a football match while they were visiting an extensive network of 10-kilometer caves in the northern Chiang Rai region, and were caught trapped by a flood.

Rescue attempts were hampered not only by the rising waters, but by the lack of communication between the first responders, as existing communication systems could not work in the complexity of the underground caves.

Uzi Hanuni, 51 years old The company's agent in Thailand was contacted for the first time by the special forces of the Thai Navy shortly after the disappearance of the boys

"From then on, everything was clear for us, "Hanuni told ISRAEL21c. "We knew we would do everything we could to save these boys."

On June 25, Yuval Zalmanov, Maxtech's software engineer, jumped on a plane with 17 of the company's emergency radio Max-Mesh units to train first responders. how to use technology. Zalmanov was joined by Asaf Zmirly, an Israeli who owns a rescue company and lives in Thailand.

Zalmanov is now part of the rescue team, made up of Thai special forces and international experts The United Kingdom, China, Australia and the United States are expected to return home in a day or two.

It took ten years to develop technology, according to Hanuni. No direct line of sight is needed, which allows it to be used in complex environments such as underground caves, where no other communication device will work.

"At every rescue mission, you must coordinate the rescue team and know at all times where they are, and what is their status," says Hanuni.

"These caverns are very long, and you can not send messengers through them, but divers must be in constant touch with their base so that everyone knows where they are. No other system could work here, except ours. Maxtech was founded 12 years ago by Hanuni, a serial entrepreneur and RF wireless communications expert, and its technology has already been used in Israel, Italy and India in the following areas: defense, security and aerospace. Products from Guatemala, Chile and Mexico are also of great interest.

"Any country in the world with a rescue team must have such a system in hand.This is not a matter of choice, it is a matter of saving lives" Hanuni explains, "In rescue missions, time is vital. The first hours and the first days are essential to save lives.

"When first responders arrive in an area after a natural disaster, they can not rely on the infrastructure that is there. They must be able to start working immediately, but if they are waiting to build some kind of infrastructure, they lose life time. We allow them to start working immediately. "

Since Maxtech's role in the rescue attempt has hit the news, the company has been inundated with investigations from around the world." In the past two days, our website has almost crushed because of the attention, "Hanuni said." Every hour we had about 30 to 40 inquiries. "

For boys, whose situation is followed by anxious people everywhere In the world, it's now a race against the clock.The boys are trapped in total darkness on a mud bank deep in the cave system.While the water is pumped out caves, it's the monsoon season, and a storm is expected soon.

The debate among the rescuers is whether to try to bring out the boys, who can not swim or dive immediately or try wait several months until the waters recede. Options is dark.

Hanuni said that alongside food and medical supplies, relief forces are now trying to pbad a communication cable to the boys so that they can talk to their families . now, it's that the boys come out alive, "said Hanuni." We came here to save them, and that's all we wish for. "

Israel has a long history of development innovative technologies for emergency situations, with devices such as Water-Gen, a portable machine capable of producing drinking water, the atmosphere and purify existing water sources Pocket BVM, a collapsible resuscitation and respiratory support device, SkySaver, a personal rescue device that can evacuate a person from a 120-storey building, and the Agilite Instant Harness, a booster harness used to rescue the body. life of South African miners trapped underground in 2013.

(via Israel21c)

[Photo: Israel21c ]

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