Experts warn rescue of Thai boys from flooded cave may take weeks

Officials say boys and soccer coach will be given food supplies to last months, and be taught to dive

The Thai army said Tuesday that twelve boys and their soccer coach found alive after nine days trapped in a cave will be taught to dive, as experts warned it could take months for the floodwaters to recede.

Rescue forces are sending food supplies that could last for over four months into the partially flooded cave in northern Thailand.

“[We will] prepare to send additional food to be sustained for at least four months and train all 13 to dive while continuing to drain the water,” Navy Captain Anand Surawan said, according to a statement from Thailand’s Armed Forces.

But experts say that as the boys cannot swim, the safest solution would be to wait for the water to drain from the cave.

“The best option is to leave them where they are and stabilize their environment,” said Peter Wolf, the national director of the Cave Divers Association of Australia, told the Guardian.

Edd Sorenson of International Cave Rescue and Recovery told the BBC the safest plan would be to wait for water levels to drop as conditions in the cave are “unbelievably dangerous” for people without advanced training, adding that it would be better to wait for “days or weeks” until conditions improve.

A rescuer makes his way down muddy steps past water pump hoses at the entrance to a cave complex where 12 soccer team members and their coach went missing, on July 2, 2018, in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, in northern Thailand. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

The governor of Chiang Rai province, Narongsak Osatanakorn, said Tuesday that all 13 had an “informal” medical evaluation inside the cave and most are in stable condition and none are in critical condition.

“The doctor advised that we should provide several kinds of medicine to prevent infection and other illness,” Osatanakorn said.

The 13 were found on Monday, more than a week after they went missing, bringing hope in a desperate search that has attracted international help and captivated the nation.

https://youtu.be/6eH5yPoeBAE

Rescue divers had spent much of Monday making preparations for a final push to locate the lost soccer players, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach. They disappeared when flooding trapped them after entering the Tham Luang Nang Non cave on June 23.

Thai navy SEAL divers and rescue workers from other countries made initial progress through the narrow passageway early Monday after passing through a key chamber on Sunday whose high, murky waters had previously blocked their progress.

Trending on Twitter in #Thailand this morning is the hashtag to do with the miracle survival of the 12 soccer players and their coach: #13ชีวิตรอดแล้ว (The 13 have survived)

???????? Also trending is the name of the cave in English and Thai: #ThamLuang #ถํ้าหลวง pic.twitter.com/Omod2CyvEW

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— Richard Barrow (@RichardBarrow) July 3, 2018

Narongsak earlier said the passageway the divers made their way through goes upward in some places and downward in others and is extremely narrow, making it difficult for divers with all their gear to fit through.

Divers have been stymied repeatedly by rising water that has filled sections of the cave and forced them to withdraw for safety reasons. When water levels dropped Sunday, the divers went forward with a more methodical approach, deploying a rope line and extra oxygen supplies along the way.

The SEALs’ Facebook page said that since Sunday night, the divers had reached a bend where the kilometer-long (half-mile-long) passage splits in two directions. The divers were aiming for a sandy chamber on higher ground in the cave.

Narongsak explained earlier Monday that fixing rope lines and deploying oxygen tanks along their route would allow the divers to operate.

In this handout photo released by Tham Luang Rescue Operation Center, Thai rescue teams walk inside cave complex where 12 boys and their soccer coach went missing, in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, in northern Thailand, on July 2, 2018. (Tham Luang Rescue Operation Center via AP)

In addition to the divers, teams have been working to pump out water as well as divert groundwater. Other efforts have focused on finding shafts on the mountainside that might serve as a back door to the blocked-off areas where the missing could be sheltering.

Teams have been combing the mountainside looking for a fissure that might lead to such shafts. Several have been found and explorers have been able to descend into some, but so far it is not clear whether they lead to anywhere useful.

Experts in cave rescues from around the world continued to gather at the site. An official Australian group has now followed a US military team, British cave experts, Chinese lifesaving responders and several other volunteer groups from various countries.

Thailand’s prime minister on Monday evening thanked the international experts and rescuers.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha “wishes to thank the tremendous efforts of all international units that have come to assist the Thai authorities in rescuing the youth football team that was stuck in the caves in Chiang Rai,” his office said in a statement. “The Royal Thai Government and the Thai people are grateful for this support and cooperation, and we all wish the team a safe and speedy recovery.”

“These are challenging conditions and there’s a lot of consideration for safety as well as, the environment outside is contributing to the environment inside,” said US Air Force Capt. Jessica Tait, part of a 30-strong US military team assisting in the search operation, referring to the rain that has been flooding the cave. “So I’d say, yeah, it’s an accurate statement that it’s challenging.”