Posted on 07/03/2018 12:24:45 PM PDT by sodpoodle
Two doctors have volunteered to stay with children trapped in a Thai cave for four months if floodwaters cut them off and make rescue attempts impossible, it has emerged.
A football coach and 12 'rake thin' young players remain trapped in the Thamg Luang cave network in the country's north as experts desperately try to come up with a plan to rescue them.
There are fears fresh rainfall over the next few days could add to flooding in the caves - meaning the boys, who cannot swim, may have to wait until the end of monsoon season in October before they can be brought to safety.
If that does happen, two of Thailand's Navy doctors have already volunteered to stay in the underground chamber for as long as it takes in what is being described as a 'huge sacrifice'.
British volunteer divers John Volanthen and Rick Stanton were among those who struggled through narrow passages and murky waters to search for the boys, who were found starving but unhurt on an elevated rock on Monday.
A first meal of rice and pork - packaged up in sealed portions - is being prepared for the youngsters, who have already been given energy gels and paracetamol. Seal commander Rear Adm Arpakorn Yookongkaew said a team of seven, including medics, are with the boys and looking after them after an underground headquarters was set up - stocked with diving equipment, food and medical supplies.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
This would be 2640 feet.
So all most 10 times as long.
Even a 6” hole would allow fresh air to be pumped in, and a power cord lowered. Food in, waste out. clothes.
game boys.
Indeed. I would like to think I could be heroic in some instances, but diving through flooded, pitch-black, rocky crevices 1/2 mile deep in the earth would really be a test....
The air pocket must have been replenished with some fresh air during the nine days.
I trainid up through PADI Rescue diver. Hated cave diving. Your fins kick up silt, you lose all vision, you get disoriented quickly. People who’ve never had anxiety or panic attacks get them. It’s not something I would want young boys going through on their first dive.
Could probably teach them to swim before October.
I don’t tink it’s the drilling down that is the problem—it’s getting them back up-—remember the Chilean mine rescue?-———terrifying.
.
Passages are very narrow and visibility is nil. I thought of that, and then I remembered what my former coworker talked about ... and thought it was probably a very bad idea.
Since a diver made it into the cave, how difficult is it to extract the kids one at a time via the same route the diver came in?
That’s what I was thinking - four months - time for lots of lessons.
My first thought was that the state of their marriages may be a factor in their generosity.
“Teams have been pumping 10,000 litres of water out of the caves every hour. “
That has to be an error, roughly 2500 gallons per hour?
Where are the industrial mining pumps?
How long does it take to first determine where on the above ground terrain the cave is then how long does it take to get the necessary equipment on site to do the drilling?
From what I've seen, ain't no way that drilling is even a remote possibility.......
This is a huge cave complex. I don’t think air is an issue, other than if water from the monsoon displaces it.
A two mile underwater swim with zero viability and tight maneuvering. There is one passage that is so small divers have to take off their tanks to get through.
A bit much to ask on a first time dive.
That’s less than 50gpm, that’s nothing.
God bless them all.
Small hole for essential - two weeks at the most - assuming there is a rig that can do it and it can get to the site.
As in males.
As in *MEN*.
I am not objecting! I am just noting that this is something a handful of exceptional men could do, but virtually no women could --- not even the women who are brave and generous enough, and who are even cave-divers. Women are just not physically built for this kind of extreme physical challenge.
For which I say, 1000 times over, thank God for men.
And keep praying, everybody.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.