They're Alive!!!

The Thai authorities have appealed for donations of full-face scuba diving masks small enough to fit the boys in order to reduce the risk of their breathing apparatus coming loose as they travel through flooded passageways.

The group is also in a weak state after days without food.

Thai officials told reporters on Tuesday that seven divers, including a doctor and a nurse, were with the group inside the cave. They were providing health checks and treatment, and keeping the boys entertained.

"They have been fed with easy-to-digest, high-energy food with vitamins and minerals, under the supervision of a doctor," Rear Admiral Apagorn Youkonggaew, head of the Thai navy's special forces, told reporters.

"No need to worry. We will look after them as well as we can. We will bring them out safely."

The admiral said the idea that the boys would have to remain in the cave system for four months was very much a worst-case scenario.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44692813

That must have been a weird job description...''Are you a doctor or a nurse, who is also an expert cave diver, prepared to negotiate hazardous underwater conditions, narrow passages, utter darkness, silt and an uncertain forecast of heavy rains that may drastically complicate matters, and willing to take up a residential position alongside 12 children and a coach trapped in a cave, in order to supply medical care and entertainment?'' There can't have been that many with not only the qualifications but also the mindset and yet they found them! Anyways there is talk of prosecuting the coach, but I feel sorry for him too, he is only a young chap, and probably just thought at the time it would be great craic for the birthday boy. He has also obviously been the one who has managed to keep them somehow organised and sane during this ordeal.

Malayalam wrote: »

Okay, this is really evil of me....hehe...cameras in, and live-streamed reality show? Would have to be waaaay better than the stuff like Big Brother etc They could raise advertising revenue that way to finance the whole operation (see how i justify my evil thoughts!) the country, nay! the whole world would be tuned in, glued to their seats, the cameras outside on the beefy rescue teams activities, go-pros on their helmets, the tension at HQ, spats between generals, Mamas cooking meals to be delivered in.....

Sorry...evil, I know

anyways, back to having floaty, benign thoughts

I don't even think that's evil to be honest. The biggest drawback of that might be that it could encourage copycats though.

wexie wrote: »

That's the thing, whatever about having gone in there in the first place (and I don't know if they did or didn't ignore any warnings) he managed to keep them all together, alive and in reasonably good spirits from what I understand.

That's no small feat.

The book should be thrown at him. He endangered the lives of all the boys. And if any of them don’t make it he should be done for manslaughter. Absolute idiot.

....... wrote: »

We dont know exactly what happened and he hardly did it on purpose just to be mean.

Honestly, a bit of empathy for everyone in the situation wouldnt go astray.

If your kid died because of the stupidity of his football coach, would you feel “empathy” because he’d amused the kids while they were waiting to be rescued??

badtoro wrote: »

How safe is their current location should a heavy monsoon come in I wonder.

It's questionable apparently :

More heavy rain could see water levels rise and threaten the air pocket where the group has taken refuge.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44692813

To make matters worse apparently most of the boys can't swim either.

Graces7 wrote: »

Given the ages, was there not parental consent in full knowledge of where they were going.? And his life in danger too.

I wouldn't be confident that's how things work in rural Thailand

Ben Reymenants, a Thai-based Belgian diver ... shed some light on how the boys and their coach, Ekkapol Chantawong, 25, ended up in this ghastly situation in the first place.

It was apparently a local initiation ceremony for boys to run to the end of a cave tunnel and write their name on the wall before running back. While they were all inside, however, a flash flood sealed off the exit forcing the boys to head further into the mountain.

Armed with a single functioning torch, they managed to reach the spot where they have subsequently been discovered.

(Daily Mail)

Seems to me then it was a quite innocent event that led to them being trapped. A local thing that boys did then a flash flood.

It seems really impossible that they could dive them out - it really seems too treacherous, and especially now that a professional had died. RIP

And it seems also impossible to bore down to them from that video. Jesus, what a fix. Its like being entombed alive.

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I've only done my PADI but I know the feeling of panic that builds when you're new to it. I was next to two instructors in beautiful water with dozens of metres of visibility. Just myself, my girlfriend and two instructors and I still had periods of hyperventilating thinking of where I was and what I was doing.

These kids are malnourished, weak and the environment they will be doing this is the worst ever possible in diving. People only dive in these conditions during rescue missions.

If I were there and sedation so I wouldn't panic was an option, I would absolutely take it. Tie my hands to my sides, tie my feet together and let the professionals attempt to guide me as best they can.

(if this sounds stupid, fair enough. I'm talking from a total layman's perspective.)

I dont think its too outlandish an idea.
I cant see how they can dive them out of that place, without serious risk to them and their rescuers.

Roger Hassenforder wrote: »

While he was a bit of an idiot to bring those kids into such a cave, that coach guy is a hero for keeping them together and alive in that place, keeping them moving in those narrow passages, trying to give them hope they will be rescued, comforting them.

Yeah, what a hero!! There’s already one death on his head, and I doubt it will be the last. I hope justice is served harshly on him if he gets out.