#Thailand - Mission Day 3 begins to evacuate final five

Efforts resumed on Tuesday morning to evacuate the remaining five Mu Pa Academy football club members from Tham Luang Cave in the hope of bringing them all to safety within hours, the mission chief said.

Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters the operation started at 10.08am with 19 divers assigned to extract four young footballers and their 25-year-old assistant coach, Ekkapon Chantawong.

He said they got an earlier start than on the previous two rescue days, Sunday and Monday, and felt confident in the experience gained.

Despite rain overnight, the water level inside the cave was similar to that of Monday, Narongsak said.

Also to be brought out on Tuesday were the physician and three Navy SEAL divers who had stayed with the remaining footballers on the Noen Nom Sao ledge where they’d been found stranded.

Flash flooding trapped the group in the cave on June 23, sparking a multinational rescue mission that had to overcome numerous difficulties, including strong currents of murky water submerging sections of the cave.

A pair of British cave divers found them on July 2, alive but exha

usted on a sandy ledge above the water level.

Their state of health posed a further challenge to the rescue effort, as did the surging water levels and rough subterranean terrain.

Narongsak decided on Sunday to launch the rescue operation after being assured the water had receded and the boys’ health was improving thanks to nourishment given them by the SEALs team.

Narongsak said two of the boys evacuated on Sunday emerged with lung infections, but their condition was improving with doses of antibiotics.

The eight boys undergoing treatment at Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital were in general good health, both physically and mentally, he said.

One of them has low body temperature after spending days in the cold cave but is also improving.

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 - One more boy out, 3 on the way

Four more boys have reached Chamber 3 in Tham Luang -- past the narrow, treacherous passage near the T-junction that poses the greatest threat to the rescue operation, a source in the operation centre 
said on Monday. 

Another source said that one boy was brought all the way out of the cave where 12 boys and their soccer coach had been stranded for over two weeks, and airlifted to Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital, a military source said. 

The first source said the boys arrived at the chamber at 4pm after being rescued by foreign and Navy Seal divers from the ledge - called Nern Nom Sao.- where they had sheltered from floodwaters for more than a week.

They are the second batch to undertake the perilous journey out of Tham Luang cave in Mae Sai district in Chiang Rai. The first four were successfully evacuated and taken to Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital in Muang district on Sunday. Divers took about four hours to escort the four from the ledge to the chamber, the source added. Chamber 3 is the operational base for rescuers inside the cave. It is about two kilometres from the entrance. 

Read Contine on BankokPost  

 

Sixth and seventh footballers emerge from cave, taken to hospital by chopper

Two more boys have emerged from the Tham Luang cave near Chiang Rai, exiting at about 7pm on Tuesday. They received medical examinations at a field hospital erected near the cave.

The young Mu Pa Academy footballers, whose name have not been revealed, were taken by ambulance from the cave in Mae Sai district before boarding a chopper to Chiangrai Prachanukraw hospital in Muang district.

They became the second and the third to come out of the cave on day two of the operation to evacuate the footballers and their assistant coach from the cave, where they were stranded 15 days ago.

On Monday, four of his team members were separately extracted from the cave and are receiving treatment at the hospital.

Source - TheNation

 

Thailand - Fifth footballer emerges from cave, taken to hospital by chopper

A fifth boy has emerged from the Tham Luang cave near Chiang Rai, exiting at about 5pm on Tuesday.

The young Mu Pa Academy footballer, whose name has not been revealed, was taken by ambulance from the cave in Mae Sai district before boarding a chopper to Chiangrai Prachanukraw hospital in Muang district, said a source.

He was the first to come out of the cave on day two of the operation to evacuate the footballers and their assistant coach from the cave, where they were stranded 15 days ago.

On Monday, four of his team members were separately extracted from the cave and are receiving treatment at the hospital.

Video 

Source - TheNation / BangkokPost