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Divers progress in search for missing Thai kids
MAE SAI, Thailand, June 30, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Rescue divers reached several
kilometres inside a flooded cave Saturday where 12 boys and their football
coach have been trapped for a week, offering a flicker of hope for the
harrowing search.
There has been no contact with the boys, aged 11 to 16, and their coach
since they went into the Tham Luang cave last weekend and were hemmed in by
heavy rains that blocked the entrance.
The desperate, round-the-clock search for the team has been beset by
torrential downpours that submerged tunnels near the entrance, blocking
divers from going on.
But Navy SEAL divers nearly reached a T-junction in the depths of the cave
just two or three kilometres (one to two miles) from where the boys are
believed to be, Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osottanakorn said.
Divers reached the same spot earlier in the week but were forced back by
rushing floodwaters.
Water levels inside the complex labyrinth of tunnels finally dropped thanks
to dozens of pumps set up to drain the pools even as heavy rain continued to
pound the area near the Myanmar and Laos borders.
“The situation is better today than yesterday and the day before. Water has
receded considerably and we are pumping out water in all chambers (near the
entrance),” Narongsak told reporters.
As the search for the boys hit its seventh day, attention turned to their
chances of survival inside a cave with little or no food and light.
The group likely has access to fresh water — either dripping in through
rocks or rushing in through the entrance — but experts warned that runoff
water from nearby farms could carry dangerous chemicals or bacteria.
“If they drink the water in the caves and it makes them sick it could
hasten the problem that they are in, but if they don’t drink it then they are
also in trouble,” Anmar Mirza, coordinator of the US National Cave Rescue
Commission, told AFP.
MORE/MR/ 1405 hrs
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But even without food he said young, athletic boys could “easily live for a
month or a month and a half” but the main challenge now would be mental
resolve.
“The biggest issue that they are facing right now if they are alive is
psychological because they don’t know at what point they might get rescued,”
Mirza said in a telephone interview from the US state of Indiana.
– Practice drills –
The dramatic week-long rescue has galvanised the nation and prompted
emotional outpourings online from well-wishers praying for their safe return.
Cartoon images of the smiling boys being found by divers circulated along
with messages for the team, such as “Stay Strong, We are Coming”.
Teams of foreign experts, including more than 30 US military personnel,
have descended on the remote mountainous site to join some 1,000 Thai
rescuers.
Australian, Chinese and Japanese experts also joined efforts.
Several teams trekked into the thick jungle above the cave desperately
looking for new openings that might lead to the trapped boys.
One team was drilling into a 40-metre (130-foot) chimney that led to a
muddy chamber, which the governor described as a “promising” lead.
But there was still no indication it linked to the main cave complex.
“We have been rotating our staff into the chimney since yesterday, they are
inside… still searching and we are waiting for their findings,” Surachai
Thathes, chief of the parks ministry rescue team for northern Thailand, told
AFP.
But the main priority was trying to reach the boys through the main
entrance, governor Narongsak said.
Earlier in the day medics and police staged practice drills to prepare for
the quick and complex evacuations that will be required if and when the boys
are found.
Stone-faced relatives kept vigil under a makeshift tent near shrines where
monks are leading prayers.
Stretching 10 kilometres (six miles) and with complicated, snaking pathways
and narrow corridors, Tham Luang is one one of Thailand’s longest and
toughest caves to navigate.
Officials said the boys know the site well and have visited many times
before, buoying hopes that they might have trekked to a large airy chamber in
the centre called Pattaya Beach.
Rescuers found footprints and handprints in a chamber near that spot
earlier in the week, further in from where they found the kids’ football
boots, backpacks and bicycles.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1405 hrs