Thailand cave: The successful search for lost boys
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
On 23 June, 12 boys and their coach went to explore a cave after football practice in northern Thailand. Nine days later, all 13 have been found alive.
A huge rescue operation involving the Thai Navy and Air Force finally managed to find the group deep within the cave system.
Shortly after the group's bikes were found abandoned at the entrance last month, heavy rain sent torrents of water through the cave.
Rescuers hoped that the boys aged 11 to 16 and their coach were alive deep inside the Tham Luang Nang Non cave. They hoped the group could find safety on a mound in an underground chamber, after being trapped by flood waters.
A photo of one of the missing boys, Prachak Sutham, is shown on the phone of a Thai student, below.
Thai Navy divers, along with four British cave divers and some US military personnel, worked hard to try to reach the deepest caverns of the Tham Luang Nang Non cave, the fourth longest in Thailand.
British cave-diver Robert Charles Harper is seen exploring an opening in the mountain during the rescue operation, below.
Industrial water pumps were used to reduce the water level inside the cave, but struggled against relentless rain.
The entrance to the cave became flooded, with efforts shifted to finding other ways to access and reduce water in the cave, involving drilling through rock to drain water.
Drones equipped with thermal cameras were used to detect possible access points and an underwater robot sent back information on the water depth and condition of the cave.
Sniffer dogs were also used after smelling clothing belonging to the missing children.
On Monday, shortly before they were found, rescuers said they believed they were less than 1km (0.6 miles) from where the boys may be, but were blocked by a narrow tunnel.
The group's plight gripped the country and led to an outpouring of support and hope, along with press attention.
Hundreds of volunteers joined the military and police in the search operation.
Prayers and rituals took place for the missing group, including by a monk at an altar near the Tham Luang cave, below left.
A hermit was photographed performing a ritual beside the road leading to Tham Luang cave (below right).
On Saturday, an ethnic Akha shaman was seen at Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park performing religious rituals to help the search, below.
On Monday, ethnic Lisu tribespeople held a ritual involving a sacrificial chicken to appease the spirits of Tham Luang cave.
Thai medical experts had said the group's survival depended on whether they can find fresh drinking water and they could survive for eight days without food.
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Great News!
I've been loosely following this story since it broke 9 days ago and, truth be told, I didn't think it was going to end well. So very glad I was wrong.
Personally I'm going to give the credit to The Hermit, though the chicken might of helped as well.
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They've been trapped down there since June 23rd, does that make it 9 or 10 days without food?
They have been located and it is reported that they are suffering from dehydration and malnutrition. It will take several hours for each person to be brought out according to the report. Hopefully from now on people will check the weather reports and not go into underground caves when rain is expected.
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Unfortunately I've been seeing reports that the poor guys might be trapped underground for months before their recuse can be safely completed.
My morning news reported that 3 more have been brought out.
4 today, so that's 8 total. Sounds like they need to restage bottles now, and it's not clear if they'll try to do the remaining 5 in one push tomorrow or two.
I would think that they get the remainder of the boys out tomorrow. I also heard they took the strongest ones first mainly for morale.
I read that too and was a bit surprised since normally you'd do the reverse, but it could be that some of the kids need more time to build up strength or more time for dive training. They're not going to really teach them how to dive but how to stay calm in zero visibility underwater, what to do if you lose your dive mask or water starts to leak in, what to do if you lose your connection to the dive line, what to do if your tank or other gear get stuck or hung up, etc.
I'm a caver & cave diver and have been involved in a number of rescues in "dry" caves so I know there's not much point to speculating or double guessing the rescue coordinator. Usually the facts on the ground aren't very closely connected to what gets reported in the short term anyway, so we just read about it later on a cave diving newsgroup or when the annual NSS accident report gets published. On one particular cave accident in Iowa (Skunk cave) there were 3 different reports written up, one by the rescue coordinator, one by the experienced caver who ultimately freed the kid who was stuck, and one by the mother of the kid who was never even on the scene......and all 3 reports were wildly different. And during the 12 hour rescue itself the TV news reports were all laughably wrong.
reading about their rescue has given me so much anxiety!!!! I don't think I could do it! What strong and fearless little men!!!! I can not wait to see someone interviewed!!!
reading about their rescue has given me so much anxiety!!!! I don't think I could do it! What strong and fearless little men!!!! I can not wait to see someone interviewed!!!
This is really a miraculous story! A couple divers just happened to surface and find them!!!!! I'm not too sure how much the kids actually had to be underwater during their rescue. I really hope a news source can get an interview so we can know more details!
Kudos and two thumbs up to the divers and every one else involved in the rescue of all these kids and their coach. Good team effort and job well done!
Got to give the fine folks in Thailand full credit for coming together and never giving up.
Texas and our baby Jessica story got nothing on these proud people.
Just read a different story on this, good ending to a bad circumstance.
Like you AH I didn't think that this was going to end well...Thank goodness we were both wrong.
Great job by all involved in the rescue...
I've followed the headlines for a week, wondering when the horrible news would come.
It's wonderful to hear the boys are saved. Great respect for the Thais' "never give up" attitude.
Great news. Although, not so great for chickens. I'm sure many will connect the successful mission with the ritual slaughter of a chicken now.
Hey!
If it works.....
LOL. No kidding.
Y'all! I saw on Fox this morning that at least 4 of the boys have been rescued but there are reports of 6 being rescued. I believe they are stopping for the night and will resume in about 10-12 hours. Fantastic news!!!!
This is true, Jenn. It's a shame that the naysayers on NT gave up on the rescue mission days ago...
Yes I saw 4 as well, hopefully the remaining 7 soon
There are 9 remaining including the coach.
My bad you are correct,
I can only say I hadn't had my morning coffee yet
That coach is going to be in deep doo doo when they get him out. There were signs prohibiting entry into that cave. The news said it was part of an initiation of some sort to enter the cave.
I'm not sure what to think about that. From what I'm hearing, they entered the cave (for what ever reason) but they kept going deeper into it because of the flooding and rain. I also heard that the parents aren't mad at him. That could be wrong too.
Evening..what you are hearing is correct as that is what they are reporting here as well. The parents are not blaming the coach and have thanked him for keeping the boys safe and calm until they were found. He also gave them his share of the food. Yes questions will be asked and comments made, at the end of the day they are safe. But that is not to forget the SEAL who has lost his life in rescuing them....One of the many heroes in this and after seeing pictures of what they are dealing with, it is in the true sense...The word hero is banded around to lightly these days...But in his case he certainly was one.....
I suspect the coach will hold himself responsible for the death of the cave diver. I'll be interested to learn what actually happened there but usually it takes a year or so before my group gets a full writeup on the incident.
Evening, Shona! I also hear we have some Aussie divers as well!!!!! Thank you!
Lack of oxygen from what I heard
His tank ran out of air but the question is why given that he wasn't stuck in a tight passage. Cave divers have a strict rule of 1/3rd in, 2/3rds out for your air supply, and the water current makes the way out much quicker. So either he had some unknown medical event (unlikely since he kept the regulator in his mouth and depleted his air), he lost the dive line and got confused (unlikely if he was a trained cave diver rather than just a SEAL), or he was pushing his air supply to the limit in order to stage as many bottles as possible or as far as possible. I'll wait to read the accident reports but this sounds like one where the cause won't be known.
I will wait on reports as well, very crappy indeed. I think they were trying to do a dry run (if that makes sense) before all the children.
The reports say that he was staging tanks along the route. That's why it's especially strange since he had other air sources upstream of where he was found.
Maybe he stayed too long under water or got to a place that didn't have as much oxygen, with out a tank... IDK..... its crazy. I'm so thankful for him and everyone else!!!!
I'm watching reports on TV right now. Four boys have been taken to the hospital. As GaJenn stated that they have stopped the operation for the night and will start in the AM.
Great news.
They aren't stopping because it's night since it's always dark in the caverns. It's to replace the oxygen supplies along the route. This is a long, dangerous mission. It's how the Thai Seal was lost.
This is definitely going a lot more smooth than I thought it would. I have also heard they had been finding other routes and drilling as well. I am so extremely happy about this!!!!
I wasn't optimistic about the rescue, I am happy to admit I was wrong. 4 down, 7 to go.
Great seed AH, thanks for this.
One thing this is teaching me is that I've been doing expedition caving all wrong......when we get out we need to go to a hospital which has cute nurses!
Agreed. I didn't think they would rescue a one. Glad I was wrong.
Or you can skip the caving altogether and just to straight to the hospital..
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No kerplunking for me..... LOL!
Y'all!!! 8 of them are out! I am over the moon happy about this!!!!
Yes, it seems that they got 4 more out....Great news
Evening GaJenn..Yes brilliant news..fingers crossed for the remaining 5..It is a race against time at the moment as the weather is deteriorating and rain has been falling....Hopefully it holds off enough until the others are finally removed tomorrow....A fantastic effort by all involved from the Thais, USA, China, Brits, European countries and us...Amazing what can be achieved when everyone works together...
Hi Shona! It seems that they have a solid plan in place! I was devastated when I heard it may be months before they could be rescued. When I turned on the news yesterday morning, I was overjoyed to see that 2 were rescued! Now 8 of them!!!! I know that coach feels horrible, according to reports, he's only 25
It really does warm my heart!
Y'all!!!! This site has been down, and it's been driving me crazy!!!! Everyone is out!!!!! They still had a doctor and 3 Navy Seals down there but I suspect they will get out just fine..... at least I'm praying they do, we already lost one. This has go to be one of the best heroic operations I have ever seen!!!! Marcus Lutrell was on Fox and Friends this morning and had a great interview about this. If you don't like Fox thats fine, but the interview was great
Now the divers have to go back in and pull all the rescue gear out.....
Blah, leave that shit...... get the hell out is what I'm screaming!
I won't be too surprised if they wait a few days for the divers and support team to rest but all the staged air tanks and other neutrally buoyant gear is much easier to extract by floating it through water rather than carrying it out when the water is lower in November. The bigger gear like the pumps and hoses will be removed right away while the army is there.
Dear Friend Arkansas Hermit and All Other News Talkers Who Contributed to This Discussion: I am delighted that all the boys, their coach, the Doctor, and almost all the Thai Navy Seals are back.
I hope they are all healthy and suffer no long term (PTSD) afflictions.
May those close to the heroic from Thai Navy Seal who gave his life diving as a civilian volunteer in this rescue be comforted by the memory of his courage and selfless sense of duty.
May his sacrifice be a blessing and an inspiration to all about the globe.
May he rest in peace.
Enoch.
The doc and 3 seals are also out????? OMGsh!!!! Amazing!!! I am so happy to hear this!
I heard two of the boys are showing signs of pneumonia but the others are seeming well.
Many of the boys are suffering from ailments due to where and how long they were there. With good mental counseling hopefully they will not suffer long term psychological damage. I hope they and their families are left alone by the press until a later time when they all better equipped to handle what is sure to be the biggest media blitz since Baby Jessica.
I hear you! I was wondering what kinds of PTSD the boys might have, but I think they will be ok. Will prolly never do expedition again of any sort, but a few might end up being SEALS. What a remarkable bunch they are!!!!
More than one may be permanently claustrophobic after this.
I very much doubt that based on my own experience caving with kids. If anything they learned a number of valuable technical and psychological skills especially from the little bit of cave diving training they received.
No doubt!!!! I know I would be, especially after hearing about what the rescue entailed! What a brave bunch of boys! I don't think I could have done it! I am so stinkin proud of them!!!!
The divers are proud of the kids too - here's one of them talking about it:
On a side note all the problem cavers I've ever had were adults, or at least 16 or older. Younger kids are extremely resilient and generally take directions pretty well. Of course it's still an individual thing - I wouldn't take any adult or any kid into a cave or put them in a dicey situation if I expected they might be a problem.
For example all of my daughters are excellent cavers but there's only one of them I've taken on nasty wet survey trips, and she started doing that particular kind of caving when she was 11 after she had over 3 years experience and I was confident in her abilities and her reaction to adverse conditions. But I never would have let her go cave diving at that age (and you can't get certified until 18 anyway).
More about the various cave divers:
Wow! very impressive!!! These boys have shown extreme ability! They had a will to survive!!!!
I was wondering, thank you!
Amen
Has anyone heard if the doctor and 3 Thai seals are out as well. They stayed with the boys since July 2nd.
Yep, they're all out.
Outstanding, thanks for the information.
Great news. I am happy and sad at the same time.
Many, many well wishes for those that never give up. Very happy for the children and coach. Sad for the loved ones of the man that gave his life.
I remember seeing an episode of the old tv show China Beach. The two women were trapped in a cave and the only way out was swimming underwater through a small crevice. I thought at the time, I don't know if I would have been able to do that.
Very brave young people.
Morning....A truly wonderful outcome carried out by many people from around the world...As we say here "Bloody ripper"...Yet tinged with sadness, for the one lost soul....
I heard on the news this morning that the boys and their coach have left the hospital and were going to do a presser, not sure if we will see it though. They had a snippet of an interview with an Aussie diver who helped with the rescue and said that they boys were sedated during the rescue to prevent them from panicking. I was wondering how they did it! I can't wait to hear more about this.
Evening GaJenn..Yes they are all on the TV now live from Thailand..all look well and thanking the rescuers etc....They are answering questions etc and showing a picture of the SEAL who lost his life trying to help them...and thanking his wife and family and honouring him....They are saying they will never forget him...
Morning, Shona! Thanks for the update. I was trying to see if it was being shown anywhere here but I couldn't find it. If you have anymore news, please share!