Thai against the clock: the oxygen in the cave goes down

(CNN Spanish) –

Thai authorities are under pressure to present a bailout for 12 children and their trainer, trapped in a flooded cave in northern Thailand, after the death of the children. an exbuzo and decreasing levels of oxygen underground

Initially, officials thought they could keep the children and their trainer in the cave where they are trapped for four months, until the l '39; water falls low enough that they can

But the death of a member of the rescue team, and confirmation of the drop in oxygen levels to potentially levels dangerous, seem to have forced a reassessment of the situation.

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The chief of the Thai Navy, Admiral Aphakorn Yoo Kongkaew, said that the levels of children in Thailand are the highest. Oxygen in the cave had dropped to 15%, a level that, According to a Thai doctor, this represented a serious risk of hypoxia, the same disease that causes altitude sickness.

It is too dangerous to leave children much longer, said Yoo Kongkaew, despite the risks of getting them out "We can not wait for all the conditions (are ready) because of the situation," he said. to journalists on Friday.

"Originally, we thought children could stay safe in the cave, we do not have much time."

He did not say how long they could survive with the current levels of oxygen, but he said that the highest priority was to get more oxygen for the kids.

intervened a few hours after the death of Sergeant Saman Kunan, former Thai SEAL while he was returning from an operation to deliver oxygen tanks to the cave where were the children.

The 38-year-old man ran out of air under water, said an official.

The boys, members of a football team, and their coach were trapped in the maze cave of the Tha complex. Luang Nang No for nearly two weeks, unable to come out of a series of narrow passages after the flood waters forced them to take refuge on a rocky ledge.

The great operation to save them involves dozens of ] SEALs of the Thai Navy, experts and various volunteers from Europe and Asia, as well as from Australia and the United States.

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Elon Musk, inventor and billionaire businessman, said Friday that the engineers of SpaceX & Boring Co . they went to Thailand to see if they could help