Risky Rescue Plan to Get Thai Soccer Boys Trapped in Cave Begins to Take Shape
Less than a week after the 12 members of a youth soccer team in Thailand and their coach were discovered safe after being trapped in a cave, the plans to get them out in one piece are now being deliberated.
The Guardian revealed that the first plan to rescue the soccer team members who are currently trapped in a flooded cave since June 23 is to drain a significant amount of water so that they can be safely pulled through the mostly submerged tunnels.
According to the report, the Mermaid Subsea Services in Bangkok has been working with Thai authorities to provide masks for any rescue mission to get the children out of the cave system in Chiang Rai. The company is known for its undersea oil and gas extraction projects.
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This plan will also require the boys to be dressed in diving wetsuits, boots, and helmets as well as the AGA Divator masks that are specifically made for children.
Ruengrit Changkwanyuen, the coordinator of the Thai group who was part of the international cave diving team that discovered the boys on Monday, July 2, said that the professional divers will have to use an 8-millimeter static rope that has been fixed in the location to guide the rescuers and the boys throughout the cave. However, the boys are not expected to bring their own 12-liter oxygen tanks. Instead, they will probably be provided with oxygen that will come from a navy diver's supply.
However, cave rescue expert Anmar Mirza spoke with CNN to explain that diving with the 12 boys could be the most dangerous plan to rescue to trapped children.
"It can put the divers at risk. The biggest risk is actually to the kids themselves," Mirza said. "Cave diving is incredibly dangerous for people who are very experienced doing it. And now you're looking at taking people who have no experience or very little experience with diving, and putting them into a complete blackout situation, where they have to rely on a regulator and the tanks with them to breathe. And losing that regulator for even a minute or two can be fatal," Mirza went on to say.
Because of the danger of this plan, a report from Gizmodo said that it would be more sensible if the Thai government would just opt to wait until the end of the rainy season before any action to save the boys will be implemented.
