Posted on 07/04/2018 12:41:48 PM PDT by BBell
BANGKOK (AP) — Now that the missing Thai soccer team has been found, the next step is determining how to get the boys and the coach safely out of a partly flooded cave in northern Thailand. A look at the options and why extracting the 12 boys and the coach could take some time:
THE CAVE IS HUGE
THE CAVE IS HUGE
Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai province stretches under a mountainside for up to 10 kilometers (6 miles), much of it a string of narrow passageways that lead to wide chambers and then back to narrow passageways. The rocky and muddy ground makes several changes in elevation along the way. The British Cave Rescue Council, which has members taking part in the operation, estimates the boys are around 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) into the cave and somewhere between 800 meters (half a mile) to 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) below the surface. Other estimates put the boys as far as 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) into the cave.
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THE CAVE IS FLOODED
Finding the boys took more than nine days, partly because of how difficult it is to move around the cave. The cave floods during Thailand's rainy season and even elite Thai navy SEAL divers were finding it difficult to move through the muddy waters, currents and tight passageways.
SAFETY FIRST
Thai authorities say they are committed to "100 percent safety" when they consider how to extract the boys, who don't appear to be in urgent need of medical evacuation. Chiang Rai provincial Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said: "We worked so hard to find them and we will not lose them."
(Excerpt) Read more at thetimes-tribune.com ...
In another excerpt that was posted earlier, there was a description of the route that said that some passages are very narrow, so narrow that a person could become caught.
I agree. When I was 14 I took scuba lessons. In the pool, my mask was knocked off by the instructor. I freaked out. End of scuba for me.
I took a short beginners dive class. They started us in the shallow end of the pool where we could practice taking our regulator out and such. My first attempt I freaked out but luckily I was only in 4 feet of water so I just stood up. If I had been at any depth at all that could have been a serious problem. I finally made it to the deep end and really enjoyed it, but it is really something to get used to for some. Having said that, there was a 10 year old (or so) boy in the same class who took to it like a natural and didn’t have any problems. Made me feel like an idiot....
I was thinking about that myself. No telling how heavy a particular storm might get or how long it would last or exactly how it might affect conditions in that cave. I imagine few if any people have had experience in there during the Monsoon.
I belive studies have been done that show the biggest killer of experienced divers is drowning. That sounds crazy but panic is tough to stop and control. Cold water and tight places are scarey tough. My event was an experience I managed but I never dove in that spot again. I used more air in 2 minutes or so than the other eight minutes. This will have to be staged with spare tanks along the way. I have never heard depth mentioned. It matters. Prayers for all.
It is a tall,steep mountain.
A horizontal mine shaft would be more feasable.
Intake of ground water would be a big obsticle.
The British have all kinds of clubs. Even clubs for metal detectorists: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4082744/
I still say build a coffer dam and pump the cave out.
The kids could then just walk out.
I was thinking of drilling and installing pipes all olong the wreuie to let a lot of the water out. Probably not feasible, but I would rather have those kids wade out than swim out.
Be prepared for the water and start operations. Flooding the town would just have to be collateral damage to save the kids.
Yes, they said the first passage in (and would be the final out for the boys) was so narrow you could not wear a dive tank, but had to push it ahead of you for about 60 meters of narrow, twisting tunnel.
Except the water draining in under the mountains and into the cavern system is huge, and water from the monsoons is on its way.
I’ve seen coffers, and they’re always built without additional water pouring into them.
Yipes! I cannot imagine. {shudder}
SCUBA with over-the-face masks and guiding hands from the military.
60 meters/110 feet or so. Pushing your tank and a inexperienced diver pushing his and following. This really sucks. Wonder if an air pump with regulators rigged up brought in, then drop the tanks inside, bring out the kid to the surface. Set up and do it again. Temps and depth and currents plus visability are all important. Divers doing this work are going to be fatigued too. This is all a hell of a predicament. Ain’t no easy way. Rigging some lights to lower panic issues is another thing. Tough, tough issue. The rescuers pull this off and God must be involved.
“There is actually a club, that has meetings about cave rescues? There is literally a club for everything.”
OMG! I hope that club is exactly representative of world demographics with the precise percentages of women, blacks, LGBTQRST... homos, Muslims, illegal immigrants, minors, native Americans, and every element of the rainbow coalition. So help me, if I find out it’s a bunch of rich white guys trying to get credit for helping people,...
This has a lot of the elements of the 2010 Chilean mine incident. Hopefully they won’t be stuck underground for 69 days.
If that is the case, then I doubt they just walked in.
Swimming in that cave would be very dangerous I think.
WOW!
Thank you for posting that article.
Many years on rock and ice, I’m not attracted to caves but many climbers are.
I can still recall from back in the early 1970’s when a friend was telling of his recent bit of caving that involved a ‘sump’. I had to ask what it was.
Who would be the first to determine that it is, in fact, a sump, not simply a one-way death trap?
For me this akin to the rat cages from Orwell’s”1984”.
An ultimate fear.
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