Thailand, "boys could stay in the cave for months"

MAE SAI – They might be forced to learn to swim and move under the water the 12 Thai children and their trainer found yesterday after nine days of research in the Thai cave where they had been lost during a trip. An army spokesman said: on the beach where the group is located, food and water were sent for the next four months. Rescuers are fighting against the water that continues to rise to bring in the protected area even oxygen tanks and electrical cables that allow you to have light and a connection with families who are outside the cave, explains the governor of the Chiang Rai area, Narongsak Osotthanakon

Finding the boys yesterday was a group of three British divers considered among the best in the world, helped by another British, Vern Unsworth, a speleologist who lives in Chiang Rai and who knows a lot Well cave: it was him who gave the basic indications for the identification of the dry zone where the boys had found refusals . After many difficulties, British divers were able to identify it: young people had gathered there. Hungry, tired and scared but in good health: according to the first badessments, none of them is in danger of life.

After the joy of discovery, then comes the challenge of extraction: none of the group members can swim and according to weakened experts, how could it be fatal to try to plunge them into dark, in muddy waters and between strong currents to make a trip that an experienced diver takes six hours to go.

The rescuers remain to pump the water from the cave (10 thousand liters per hour) to open a dry pbadage. The expected rains in the coming days, however, are likely to lengthen the weather and require "months" for a rescue without having to dive, as Navy Captain Anand Surawan explains. An alternative might be to open a hole from above to take them out and in that sense the explorations continue for a search.

A turning point, however, could come from a Swedish team, who reached this morning Mae Sai: with him, divers have special masks that allow them to breathe through the nose even those who can not move under water or use secondary instruments