Posted on 07/03/2018 6:51:18 AM PDT by BenLurkin
A top Thai official said Tuesday that heavy rains forecast for the coming days could worsen floods in the mountain cave where 12 boys and their soccer coach were located after being missing for more than a week, forcing authorities to speed up their extraction.
... Officials said Tuesday that the boys, aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach were mostly in stable medical condition and have received high-protein liquid food.
Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda, a member of the country's ruling military junta, said Tuesday that the boys may need to swim out using diving equipment ahead of bad weather forecast for later in the week. He said the boys would be brought out via the same complicated route through which their rescuers entered. While efforts to pump out the floodwaters would continue, Anupong said it's clear some areas of the sprawling cave cannot be drained and that in order to get out, the boys may need to use diving gear while being guided by two professional divers each. He conceded that if something went awry, it could be disastrous.
"Diving is not easy. For people who have never done it, it will be difficult, unlike diving in a swimming pool, because the cave's features have small channels," he said. "If something happens midway, it could be life-threatening."
...
Cave rescue experts have said it could be safer to simply supply them where they are for now, rather than attempting to have the boys dive out. That could take as long as months, however, given that Thailand's rainy season typically lasts through October.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Wow, horrible decision to make. Hunker down for MONTHS or take novices on their first dive through a cave labyrinth guided by two experts.
I have a crazy idea: fabricate a long waterproof tube thin enough to get through the passage but wide enough for a person to crawl through and have them crawl out.
Get the right sized full face SCUBA masks for the kids.
Have them put them on and then breath as they sit down into the water.
Its the quickest way to shed the fear of breathing underwater.
Then, have each child share an octopus with the skilled diver and swim them out.
Use an underwater scooter if necessary.
How the hell did they get in this predicament in the first place ?
I do all kinds of wilderness stuff alone
I get into something. I have to get out myself. No one knows where I am an no one is going to save me
The fact that there’s an adult with these kids makes me scratch my head
Now this update. Weird.
Boy Scouts have a saying
Always be prepared.
He was in Vietnam, you know...............
Short distances with trained rescuers should be a snap.
Prayers with the boys and their guide. The whole world is working on a solution. Remember the impossible situation with the trapped miners in Chile? It demonstrated that the impossible is possible once a problem is defined.
Diving isn’t that hard. They could buddy up with an experienced diver and, after an hour or so of training, be ready for a dive.
Having said that, I do not know the intricacies of the path they need to follow. There are circumstances of which I am not aware.
But basic buddy diving, I have done that with 11 year olds.
It was a real miracle they were even found. The cave system they are stuck in is massive.
But they’ll be the only troop with badges for scuba diving out of a cave.
I don’t know how viable an idea that is but it would have to be a kind of horizontal caisson pressurised with an air lock
At both ends.
Yes, IIRC they’re about 2 miles in.
And, these boys can’t swim. There is a very big chance that one or more of these kids would absolutely panic once underwater, not to mention going underwater through a narrow passage.
These kids area long way from safety.
“Unless panic takes hold.”
I’ve trained as a rescue recovery diver. We simulated dealing with a panicked swimmer. The instructors didn’t pull any punches. I ended up almost losing a front tooth from a blow to my regulator. This was in a clear pool. In a dark, confined cave passage it would be disastrous.
Suit them up, tranquilize them, duct tape them, tow them out, one at a time.
I know nothing about anesthesia. Does anyone know if someone could be fitted with a breathing device, knocked out, and just towed out like baggage?
GMTA?
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