Thailand - Movie “The Cave Creates Huge Crowds at Chiang Rai’s Tham Luang Cave

12 young soccer players, members of the Wild Boars (Mu Pa) football team, and their coach were trapped inside the flooded cave in July last year. Their subsequent rescue, after 17 days.

Large crowds of people are now visiting Chiang Rai’s Tham Luang cave after the movie “The Cave” screened at theaters in Thailand. The movie is about the dramatic rescue last year of 12 boys and their football coach.

The movie “The Cave” is being shown at theaters nationwide. Tham Luang cave park officials said approximately 3,000 people are visiting the cave in Chiang Rai daily.

The Thamluang Khunnam Nangnon national park also provide a trolley service to the cave entrance.

According to park officials only 50 visitors are allowed to enter the first chamber of the cave at one time. They can also take pictures and tours are for only five minutes.

Tham Luang cave officially opened in November

The Tham Luang cave complex was officially opened for tourists in early November. Two nearby caves will be opened for nature study in the future.

The dramatic rescue of a boys soccer team from Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai, has also turned the area into a sprawling tourist attraction. Drawing well over 1 million visitors since the ordeal captured headlines worldwide last year.

12 young soccer players, members of the Wild Boars (Mu Pa) football team, and their coach were trapped inside the flooded cave in July last year. Their subsequent rescue, after 17 days.

Souvenir shops have sprouted in the cave area of Chiang Rai, in Mae Sai near the border with Myanmar. Selling T-shirts depicting Tham Luang cave and the rescuers.

A statue of Sgt. Maj. Saman Gunan, the retired Thai Navy SEAL who died during the rescue mission, stands near the cave entrance.Gunman was promoted to the rank of Lt-Commander after his death.

 A nearby memorial center features a virtual cave, as well as oxygen tanks used by the rescuers. Tourists can pose for pictures by a large mural depicting the rescuers, titled “The Heroes.”

Source - Chiang Rai Times 

 Former Chiang Rai Governor Disappointed with “The Cave” Movie

 Maybe not show him enough in the movie

Miracle of 'Wild Boars' rescue transforms Thai cave into tourist draw

Tourists snap selfies by a bronze statue of the diver who died trying to save the 'Wild Boars' football team from a flooded cave, while momentos from their rescue fly off the shelves -- scooped up by the 1.3 million people who have descended on a once serene mountainside in northern Thailand.

"It's amazing what happened here. I followed everything from Australia," tourist John McGowan told AFP after taking photos at the visitor centre around 100 metres from the Tham Luang cave entrance.

"I wanted to see it with my own eyes," the 60-year-old said, adding he was a little disappointed the cave is still off limits to visitors.

For a few dollars tourists can get framed photos at the site, pick up posters of the footballers and take home a souvenir t-shirt  -- some printed with the face of Saman Gunan the Thai diver who died in the bid to save the group.

There has been extraordinary global interest in the picturesque rural backwater of Mae Sai since 12 youngsters -- aged between 11 and 16 -- and their coach entered the Tham Luang cave on June 23, 2018.

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They quickly became trapped by rising water levels and the daring, unprecedented mission to extract them through twisting flooded passageways captivated the world for 18 nail-biting days.

When they emerged -- after being heavily sedated and manoeuvered out by expert divers -- they did so into the centre of a global media frenzy.

The cave, which previously received around 5,000 visitors a year, has since been inundated by visitors both Thai and foreign.

"A miracle has happened here with these children," Singaporean tourist Cheong, giving one name, said but adding Tham Luang "must still have a spiritual side" despite the mass popularity.

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- Tragedy and luck -

Mae Sai district, where the cave is located, was considered off the beaten track for foreign visitors. 

But between October 2018 and April this year alone "1.3 million people visited," site manager Kawee Prasomphol told AFP.

The government now has big plans for the area around the storied cave, Kawee added, allocating a total of 50 million baht ($1.6 million) including a shopping complex, restaurants, hotels and several campsites outside the national park.

Vans disgorge streams of tourists who explore a visitor hub where the centrepiece is a mural entitled "The Heroes".

It depicts the young footballers, stars of the rescue, and junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha -- a reminder of the governmental fingerprints in aiding their cause.

At the heart of the mural is the beaming face of Saman Gunan, the Thai Navy SEAL diver who ran out off oxygen attempting to establish an air line to the children and their coach -- the only fatality across the near three-week rescue mission. 

Laying white flowers at the foot of his bronze statue, Thai nurse Sumalee, who travelled four hours to the site, described him as "the hero of the whole country" in a sobering reminder of the risks involved in the rescue amid the blizzard of marketing opportunities now attached to the cave story. 

Nearby lottery ticket vendors are capitalising on the perceived good fortune linked to the boys' survival and the folkloric appeal of a nearby shrine. The number of stalls has mushroomed from a few dozen to around 250. 

Kraingkrai Kamsuwan, 60, who moved his stall to the site weeks after the rescue, sells 4,000 tickets a month ($2.5) but reckons more will visitors will arrive once the cave reopens. 

He told AFP: "People want to gamble after wishing for luck from the shrine."

Source - TheJakartaPost

Thailand cave rescue to be turned into Hollywood movie

The mission to rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach from a Thai cave is to get the Hollywood treatment in a movie announced by faith-based production house Pure Flix.

Managing partner Michael Scott, who lives in Thailand and was at the rescue site in Chiang Rai as the boys were being pulled to safety, made the announcement late Tuesday on Twitter.

"I couldn't be more excited. This story has meant so much to me as I have followed it in Thailand this summer," he said in a video filmed at the scene of the flooded cave in the country's north.

"My wife actually grew up with the Thai Navy SEAL that died in the cave. To see all that heroic bravery in the cave, and to get all the divers out, it's just such a touching event and so personal to me."

Stunning video footage emerged Wednesday of several of the "Wild Boars" team -- aged 11 to 16 -- being freed from the Tham Luang cave on stretchers, ending a successful three-day rescue.

They are in good physical and mental health, say doctors, despite a harrowing 18 days inside the dank, dark cave before a risky rescue operation that was dubbed "Mission: Impossible".

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Scott's wife has been involved with planning the funeral for Saman Kunan, the former SEAL that died on July 6 while helping install oxygen tanks in preparation for the extraction.

"We're here really looking at this as a movie that could inspire millions of people across the globe," Scott added.

"And we're here witnessing the events, gathering some contacts and everything, to really tell a story about an international effort, the entire world coming together to save (12) kids trapped in this Thai cave."

Pure Flix co-founder David A.R. White told The Wall Street Journal the company -- which was behind the 2014-18 "God's Not Dead" trilogy -- was talking to actors, writers and potential investors.

"Pure Flix joins the rest of the world in thanking God for answering prayers for the successful rescue of those trapped in the cave in Thailand," the company said in a statement.

Source - TheNation

 

Thailand - Four more boys brought out of tham luang cave on 2nd successful day.

AS THE WORLD watches with awe, the dramatic rescue of the 12 boys and their football coach from Tham Luang cave, is unfolding successfully by the hour.

As of yesterday, at least eight of the 13 have been evacuated from the flooded Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai province and they are now being observed at Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital. 

The decision to evacuate the stranded 13 was made on Sunday morning and by evening four of the boys had been rescued, taking advantage of a window of opportunity. The mission plunged into the task again yesterday and managed to pull another four out by evening. Rescuers are planning to save all the remaining footballers from the Chiang Rai cave before the monsoon rains unleash their full wrath.

 The drama began 17 days ago as the assistant football coach of a local football team, Mu Pa Academy Mae Sai, and 12 team members visited the mountainous region on June 23. The 13 got stranded deep in the Tham Luang cave following sudden flash floods. The children are aged between 11 and 16 years old and their coach is 25. The muddy floodwaters, the pitch darkness and thin air inside the cave hampered initial rescue efforts. The desperate rescue operation expanded rapidly as numerous rescue workers, the Royal Thai Navy’s SEALs, academics, many organisations in Thailand, and foreign experts, joined the rescue operation.

Since June 30, the floodwater level inside the cave has begun subsiding significantly thanks to the deployment of powerful pumps, diversion of water, and the gesture of farmers in the vicinity to let their fields be flooded in order to drain water from the cave.

 On July 2, foreign divers found all 13 Mu Pa members alive at a dry spot about 5 kilometres from the cave’s entrance. 

Serious preparations for their removal began, including a crash course in diving for the stranded survivors, with evacuations finally kicking off on Sunday. 

Foreign diving specialists and Thai SEALs have already successfully helped at least eight footballers brave through perilous narrow passages and tunnels in the cave, with two divers escorting each of the evacuees. 

Some flooded passages within the cave are reportedly less than 40 centimetres wide, making it impossible to pass through with an oxygen tank on the back. Buoyed by Sunday’s success, the same diving evacuation team launched the second phase of the operations at about 11am yesterday. 

Former Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osottanakorn, who heads the rescue-operations command, said the divers were sufficiently rested and oxygen tanks had been replaced along their route by the support team. 

Narongsak said yesterday afternoon that the prospects for their mission were looking good. “The conditions [yesterday] are as great as on Sunday, with regard to the floodwater level, the amount of air, and the strength of the Mu Pa team members,” he said. 

Although it has been raining in Chiang Rai province over the past few days, the floodwater level is still manageable. 

The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department’s deputy director-general Kobchai Boonyaorana said that the floodwater level inside the cave was even lower. 

“There is some rain. But water drainage at the cave has gone as well as planned,” he said. At present authorities have not revealed the identities of the evacuees out of concern for the feelings of parents whose boys are yet to come out. Narongsak only confirmed that the first four evacuees from the cave were in good physical condition. 

An ambulance exits from the Tham Luang cave area as rescue operations continue for those still trapped inside the cave in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province yesterday. 

While the rescue efforts have achieved incredible success, they have been beset by one fatality. Former SEAL, Petty Officer First Class Samarn Kunun, 38, died during the rescue operation last week.

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, who headed to Chiang Rai last night to view the progress, said HM King Maha Vajiralongkorn had provided assistance to Samarn’s family. Prayut said the King had also emphasised that the family of the deceased should receive good care from relevant organisations. 

Source - TheNation

#Thailand - Boys emerge from cave

Rescue mission tastes big success after circumstances were seen as most suitable to evacuate the boys all 13 stranded footballers likely to be brought out within next two days; 18 divers taking part in evacuation.

Four of the 13 young footballers trapped in the flooded Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai province were being evacuated yesterday, marking a major success in the complex rescue mission, said mission chief Governor Narongsak Osotthanakorn said at about 8.30pm.

The rescue operation for the remaining eight boys and their 25-year-old assistant coach will be conducted as soon as rescuers finish preparation and deploying relevant equipment including oxygen tanks in the cave, Narongsak said.

The process will spend about ten hours, he added.

At press time yesterday, the four boys were already receiving treatment at Chiangrai Hospital. 

Earlier, the Royal Thai Air Force’s Facebook fanpage “Air Force Media by Kawin AFU” was among the first to disclose the good news of the evacuation operation. The page informed that two boys, who were not identified, had been successfully brought out of the cave at around 6.10 pm, while another survivor had already reached the Navy SEALs’ operation base in the third chamber of the cave.

A military source said earlier that the first two boys who were brought out had already been transferred to the field hospital just outside the cave entrance for a medical check-up.

The source said the operation would be concluded in two days.

Former Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osotanakorn, who heads the rescue mission, told a press conference yesterday at 10am that operations had begun to evacuate all the trapped footballers out of the flooded cave, as all factors were suitable for the mission and all the stakeholders, including families of the survivors, had agreed to give the go-ahead.

Under the current operation plan, each trapped footballer is being escorted by two diving specialists through the entire length of the cave to the entrance. Along the way, they have to climb, squeeze themselves through narrow passages as well as dive through the heavily submerged sections of the cave.

The first survivors were able to finally leave the dark confines of the cave 16 days after they were all stranded. The 13 were caught in flash floods during a visit to the cave on June 23, but they managed to find a dry shelf where they remained without food for 10 days until they were located by specialist divers.

“We have finally reached the highest level of preparedness to bring all trapped survivors out of the cave, so we have to seize this perfect opportunity when we have the most readiness to execute this daring mission,” Narongsak said.

“This perfect situation will not last long, as within the next few days there will be storms and heavy rains in the area that can significantly increase flood levels inside the cave and endanger the trapped survivors and all the officers inside.”

Disclosing details of the evacuation plan, he revealed that a total of 18 diving specialists would participate in this mission – 13 are international specialists, while the other five are from Thailand.

They all have the necessary expertise and skills to perform evacuation operations in difficult situations and hostile environments such as inside the flooded cave, he assured.

The decision to go ahead with the operation comes before the arrival today of evacuation pods built by the engineers of SpaceX as assistance from the company’s founder Elon Musk to aid in the evacuation operation. “The major obstacles to our operation are water and time. We have raced against these two challenges since the first day and we still have to race against them on this mission too, so we cannot miss this chance to save these boys” Narongsak said. 

He said once the survivors are brought out of the cave, they would be taken into the field hospital for medical examination by 13 medical teams, one for each survivor, in order to determine how to treat them based on three categories: green for healthy, yellow for minor injuries, and red for critical injuries.

 

KEY EVENTS ON RESCUE OPERATION D-DAY

7.28am Chiang Rai deputy governor invites all relatives of trapped footballers to the operation command office.
9am All reporters are told to leave the Tham Luang cave.
10am Chiang Rai former governor announces launch of rescue operation.
10am First survivor begins exit dive, with two escorts.
Noon Reporters are told to leave area around Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital.
3pm Police close area around Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital to traffic.
5.10pm The first evacuated footballer to reach cave mouth. 
7.25pm Four footballers rescued at press time.

Source - TheNation

What an surprise, one can speak English

English-speaking footballer is academic polymath, says teacher

 The video clip of the first encounter between British divers and the 13 missing members of a local football team trapped in Tham Luang cave for days thrilled the nation as they were found safe and alive.

As the conversation between the divers and the boys continued, the clip’s watchers may have been surprised when a boy was able to communicate in English and became the translator for his friends.

 The boy became the talk of the town as many people wondered who he is. People praised him for being fluent in English considering his age and in comparison to his friends who had to ask him to translate for them.

The clip was shared more than four million times across the globe as the boys’ disappearance in the cave and the multinational rescue operations became the headline news for days and continues to do so.

 Japanese seeing the clip expressed surprise that such a young boy knew sufficient English to communicate and they compared him to Japanese boys of the same age.

One person not surprised was his teacher, Piyarat Yodsuwan of Mor 2/3, Ban Wiengpan School. Adul Samorn, 14, can speak four languages, said the teacher: Thai, English, Chinese and Burmese.

As a student of the school’s so-called “Buffer School”, Adul learnt foreign languages from native speakers. He is under the care of Hope Mae Sai Church as his Akha hilltribe family, who live in Myanmar, is very poor.The school has promoted the study of foreign languages because about 80 per cent of the students who graduate from Mor 3 are planning to run a business at the border. Therefore, it is necessary for them to understand foreign languages.

The studies focus on enabling the students to communicate rather than on the grammar, the teacher said.

Piyarat said that Adul is a hardworking student with a grade average of 3.9 out of 4.

He also joins in many activities after classes, such as football, volleyball and biking, and shows musical talents and can play guitar, violin and piano. 

He was also a winner in the science competition at the provincial level and has a good sense of responsibility, as he always submits his homework when he is absent, said his teacher.

Source - TheNation

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Thailand - Diving the top option to evacuate 13 despite risk out of the Chiang Mai cave

Rescuers do not want to delay their exit due to upcoming rains and the possibility of more flooding in cave.

ALL 13 survivors are now familiarising themselves with diving gear as rescue planners concluded yesterday that they will have to dive through floodwaters to get out of the Tham Luang cave, where they have been stranded since June 23. 

“The fittest of the survivors will be the first to come out,” Narongsak Osotanakorn, the head of the rescue operations, said yesterday. “Others will follow.”

The former Chiang Rai governor spoke as the floodwater level inside the cave subsided thanks to the powerful pumps, well-connected tubes, and diversion of the natural water flow around the Tham Luang cave system. 

The easing of the flood situation has raised the prospects of helping the 13 footballers come out of the cave where they have spent 11 days.

“The floodwater level has been dropping by one centimetre per hour. If we can maintain this momentum, it should be safe enough to bring the kids out soon,” Narongsak said. On Tuesday, the US Cave Rescue Commission’s national coordinator Anmar Mirza said that while diving was the quickest option to bring the survivors out, it was also the “most dangerous” option.

But the option of letting the survivors stay inside the cave until the floodwaters completely receded was yesterday ruled out amid the significant risk of impending heavy downpours that could again leave the cave flooded. The 10-kilometre-long cave in Chiang Rai province is normally flooded between July and November every year. On Monday night, experienced cave divers from Britain found the missing football team at a spot about 5km from the cave’s entrance. 

The 13 survivors will stay put at their current location while detailed preparations are being made for their safe evacuation. They have been joined by Royal Thai Navy SEALs and are also supplied with soft food, water, light, medicine, thermal blankets and diving gear. 

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 Learning to dive

The survivors were yesterday taught to wear full-face masks and practice breathing. 

Medics, including Army doctor Colonel Pak Loharachun, have completed health checks for all team members and found them relatively healthy. A video clip released yesterday showed the footballers had minor wounds and were apparently eager to leave the cave. One footballer asked, “Can we go out today?” Pak told the boys to be patient, explaining that despite his diving skills it took him six hours to move from the third chamber of the cave to the current location of the survivors. 

The third chamber of the cave, which is about two kilometres from the entrance, is now operating as the forward command of the rescue operations. Lighting and communication devices have been installed there and also supplied with oxygen tanks, medicine and all other necessary supplies. 

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From the third chamber to the flooded T-junction is a distance of about 800 metres. From that intersection, there is a narrow and completely submerged passage that requires rescue teams to dive to get through. The floodwater level there was nearly five metres as of press time. 

After getting out of this narrow passage, rescue teams have to climb and hike a stretch of 400 metres. This zone is dry. Then, they have to dive for about another 130 metres to reach the so-called Pattaya Beach. Then the team must walk further over the beach before making another 400-metre-long dive to reach the slope where the survivors have gathered. 

All these survivors will have to be taught to swim and dive before being escorted out. 

Even with diving experts by their side, the team will have to dive and swim on their own at some points in the journey out of the cave. 

The two Britons who first located the missing victims – Richard Stanton and John Volanthen – have remained with the rescue team to help with the safe evacuation. The other British expert, Robert Harper, who was in his 70s, had to leave Chiang Rai province yesterday, though, to undergo a medical check-up in his homeland. 

A rescue team from the United States Indo-Pacific Command has also vowed to support the operations at the Tham Luang cave until all 13 survivors are safely brought out.

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Source - TheNation 
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