Thai Cave Rescue

[Mojochi]

It seems that no charges will be bought against the coach if he does get out. The sign states that the cave closed on 1st July and the team went in on the 23rd of June. He did not disobey any warning. The families of the boys are being supportive towards the coach.

Plus we don't know the entire story or circumstances. It may very well have been unintentional for them to go so deep. They may have been trapped by monsoon rains that flooded them in quickly & drove them to where they are. Do we even know if they went in intentionally, or could they have been fleeing the torrential downpour outside? The only thing I find sure enough is that those children are only alive right now, after having gotten caught in such dire straits, because of that one guardian. He kept them alive for 10 days until they were found. I'm going to hold off on my judgment of that guy.

 

[Miss Chicken]

It has been stated that the coach and two of the boys are quite weak. It seems that before they were found the coach gave his share of their meager food supplies to the boys.

It seems that there is an ‘initiation rite’ that the local boys do in this cave. They have to walk to the end of a particular tunnel and write there names on a wall. It seems that the boys went in to do this and it was dry when they went in. The flood water seemed to have taken them by surprise and the coach had to lead them away from the water but that took them further into the cave than local people usually go.

 

[Miss Chicken]

The life of the coach seems to have been very sad. When he was only 10 years old he lost his entire family to a disease that swept through his village. That is why he was with the monks for 10 years.

 

[Makarov]

“To all the kids,” one letter, written by the mother of Nattawut Takamsai, 14, said. “We are not mad at you at all. Do take good care of yourself. Don’t forget to cover yourself with blankets as the weather is cold. We’re worried. You will come out soon.”

She wrote to Ekkapol Chantawong, the coach: “We want you to know that no parents are angry with you at all, so don’t you worry about that.”

 

[Miss Chicken]

Ambulances have arrived at the site. It looks like attempts to bring the boys out will start today. It has been suggested that the boys might be sedated so that they don’t panic while being bought out.

 

[MANT!]

I wonder if Elon Musk's engineers have arrived with their equipment yet and are assisting?
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/others/new...ring-company-engineers-for-assistance-1879570

 

[Miss Chicken]

The rescue is underway. The first rescue will be over at about 9pm Thailand time, which is about midnight Australian time. I think that would be about 10 am New York time.

 

[DimesDan]

I do hope that those young people, including the coach get out safe and I also think the coach should never be allowed to be in charge of young people again in this capacity (or any capacity) as he clearly wasn't trained to do what he did.

I know as a Scout Leader that if I placed young people in such harm as he did, there would be an investigation to ascertain what I thought I was doing, the fact that the risk was far too great and the potential for serious injury or loss of life was too great if things went wrong. At best I would lose my Warrant and never be allowed to be a Scout Leader again (or anything below that) and at worst, a criminal or civil case would be taken against me.

 

[Miss Chicken]

One of the divers who is taken part in the rescue is Australian anaesthetist Dr Richard Harris. It seems that other divers requested that he join the rescue and I wonder if that is so he can sedate the boys?

 

[Miss Chicken]

Two of the boys are out of the cave.

EDITED TO ADD - it is being reported that both of them walked out of the cave about 10 minutes apart.

First two boys have been taken to a field hospital. A third boy is being treated by medics in the cave.

 

[Makarov]

This is the parents message to the coach:

We, as your soccer team members' parents believe in you and your spirit that you've been taking a good care of our kids. We just want you to know that this is not your fault. We all here don't blame you and just want you to not to blame yourself. We all understand all the situations that have happened and we are here supporting you. We appreciate all your loving support and care to our kids. We are waiting for the news that you all get back out of the cave safely soon.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I am pleased that the parents are being so supportive of the coach.

There are 4 boys out. The divers need to put more tanks along the route before they can bring more boys out. This will take about 10 hours to do.

It annoys me a little that many people on social media are ‘Thanking god’ without mentioning the divers especially as one of the divers died.

 

[Miss Chicken]

It seems that at first that the rescuers were planning to bring out the strongest boys first. However once he reached them Dr Harris decided that the weaker boys who needed to be bought out first. The first boy out was Mongkol Boonpiem aged 13 who was described as being in a critical condition though relatives have now said he is in a stable condition.

 

[Refuge]

Thank you Miss Chicken for these updates.

 

[Miss Chicken]

What has surprised me is the age of the divers doing the rescue - most of them are in the 40s or 50s. I suppose it takes a couple of decades to master the skills of cave rescue.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I am relieved that the rescues are going well so far, and hope they continue that way. Thank you for the updates, Miss Chicken, and to you, Makarov, for the messages from the parents. This has certainly been a harrowing story.

 

[Astra]

This page has posted all the letters:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44748927

 

[Miss Chicken]

I know that the child I mention as being the first out, Mongkol Boonpiem, is the child who signed his letter as Mark. It seems that nearly all Thai children have a nickname.

The next four boys will probably be out in two or three hours

 

[Miss Chicken]

The link below explains Thai nicknames. I think it is an interesting read. The first paragraph says

A nickname in Thai is a ‘chue len’. Chue means name’ and len means ‘play’. Every Thai person has a first name and a nickname aka chue len. Parents give their children a chue len in addition to a formal given name. In 80% of cases the chue len is a single syllable (or worn down from two syllables to one). Informal names begin at birth and may continue in use to the extent that one may have to check the legal registration to find the formal given name.

http://www.huahintoday.com/thailand-news/light-hearted-look-thai-nicknames/

 

[rhubarbodendron]

According to German media, they are right now starting a second expedition with the same divers to fetch the next kids.
It's a good idea to use the same divers as they are experienced, work together very well and have the necessary knowledge of the location. The disadvantage is that in between these rescue trips they need time to rest and therefore can fetch only one group per day (at maximum), else they'd endanger themselves and make lethal mistakes as the diver did who died running out of oxigen

Once all have been rescued there ought to be an rigorous investigation into what on earth caused them to enter during monsoon season a not secured cave system that is well known to frequently get flooded when it rains. As local people they must have known about this. If - as I suspect - it was their trainer's idea, he ought to be made to pay for the complete rescue, including an annuity to the dead diver's family and compensation for pain and suffering to the children and their families.