Thailand - FOUND ALIVE - Officials Believe 12 Boys And Coach Trapped In Cave , 23 June 2018

[*Verdigris]

￣
This site has a running blog-type of updates - first posts at top, and scrolling down to latest.
I thought the following was interesting - may explain the lull lately in reports:

Anyway, this page has lots of info and images - I wish I had known about it earlier.
Chiang Mai CityNews - LIVE Updates: Teenager Football Team Trapped in Thai Cave
---

quoting my own post to update current link:

Chiang Mai CityNews - Rescue Updates: Teenager Football Team Found Alive in Cave

I guess the other one got too long.
(This link is posted at the end of the original page as well.)

 

[katydid23]

I don't know if it's the same in Thailand as it is here but, my middle daughter (15) is in club soccer. It is not like school where you get a permission slip from the parents to take the kids on a field trip. The coaches try to teach the kids responsibility on their own. They will have a group message among the coach and the team and the coach will tell the team that they are responsible to let their parents know what is going on for the week, or what their schedule is like. Many times the parents will get an email but so many of us overlook them. We will find out later from the kids that they have a team get together or whatever aside from practice. It is not uncommon here. From what I've read, the parent's found a team group message on the kids phones that this was a preplanned event. I think the parent that called police may have not been told by her child about what they were doing, but other parent's may have known. They haven't been real clear about that.

Oh, OK. I didn't know that it was that loose about where they were allowed to be. When I took my kids to after school sports, I assumed they would be there playing Ball or Hockey, until practice was over. I'd never imagine they would all be in an underground cave, ...yikes.

I hadn't heard about the phone message to the parents. I had only heard about the mother who apparentlyy said she didn't know and hadn't been told.

 

[*Verdigris]

That is nice and all, but it doesn't give him the right to put all of those young kids in severe danger, and never telling the parents what his plans were.

I would be livid if it was my son, and a coach led him into a dangerous underwater cave, with out my knowledge or permission.

It's admirable that he donates his time as a coach. But it is horribly irresponsible to lead those boys into that death trap, for such a frivolous reason as an initiation. UGH...he better hope and pray that everyone makes it home safely.

(bbm)
Do we know for sure it was without parents' knowledge or permission? I've heard both ways...

 

[Jennifer17]

Oh, OK. I didn't know that it was that loose about where they were allowed to be. When I took my kids to after school sports, I assumed they would be there playing Ball or Hockey, until practice was over. I'd never imagine they would all be in an underground cave, ...yikes.

I hadn't heard about the phone message to the parents. I had only heard about the mother who apparentlyy said she didn't know and hadn't been told.

Much different culture. An emerging culture for these kids. There is no structure like your kids had, but sometimes those structures are not good, either, Larry Nasser proved that.

 

[katydid23]

I am not sure that Thai's even know about 'initiation'. They were on an adventure. Rains came early.

The coach of a youth soccer team who led them into a flooded cave in Thailand reportedly did it as part of an initiation ritual, according to a rescuer.

The 12 boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach went missing when flooding trapped them after entering the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai province on June 23. The group were found alive on Tuesday by Thai navy SEAL divers and international rescue workers including cave divers.

One of the rescue divers Ben Reymenants told Sky News he believes the boys were in the cave as part of an initiation.

Coach took boys into Thai cave as 'initiation ritual'


I had read that it was an initiation, in a few articles.

 

[katydid23]

(bbm)
Do we know for sure it was without parents' knowledge or permission? I've heard both ways...

The initial articles that I read said there was no permission. But since then, I read about the phone message that was apparently sent to the parents.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

The incident has led to speculation over whether Ekapol should face legal consequences for misjudging the safety of their expedition.

But a criminal law attorney said Ekapol will likely escape any charges because it appeared he did not intend to put the children in danger.

“In my opinion, he had no intent. Before they went inside, the rain hadn’t started yet. And they went there often, so they must have thought there wouldn’t be any problem,” lawyer Ananchai Chaiyadech said by phone. “The law also looks at intent.”

Coach Faces Charges for Leading Boys Into Cave

 

[Jennifer17]

The coach of a youth soccer team who led them into a flooded cave in Thailand reportedly did it as part of an initiation ritual, according to a rescuer.

The 12 boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach went missing when flooding trapped them after entering the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai province on June 23. The group were found alive on Tuesday by Thai navy SEAL divers and international rescue workers including cave divers.

One of the rescue divers Ben Reymenants told Sky News he believes the boys were in the cave as part of an initiation.

Coach took boys into Thai cave as 'initiation ritual'


I had read that it was an initiation, in a few articles.

They had been in the caves before. <modsnip: unnecessary and inflammatory>

 

[*Verdigris]

￣
Another diagram, different perspective, with heights of passage ways listed in some areas:

 

[katydid23]

STORM’S COMING TO COMPLICATE RISKY CAVE RESCUE
By
Khaosod English
-
July 5, 2018 11:02 am
Storm’s Coming to Complicate Risky Cave Rescue

CHIANG RAI — The weather has been kind to the cave rescue effort over the past week, but the storm is finally coming with no timeline yet for rescuing those trapped inside.

Since it began late last month, rain has posed a major obstacle to attempts to the search and rescue of the 12 young footballers and their coach trapped inside the Luang Khun Nam Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai. Furious pumping and diversion efforts have seen the water levels inside lower steadily, officials said. But the kind of rain that flooded the cave and trapped the team inside late last month is returning this weekend, posing further danger.

Upward of 60 percent of Chiang Rai province will experience thunderstorms Saturday through Wednesday, according to the national meteorology agency.

 

[Wyle_E_Coyote]

And since he is an adult, he will be the last one rescued.

He's the weakest of the group. What little food they had, he didn't eat any of it, he gave everything to the boys .

 

[*Verdigris]

￣
OK, so earlier there was a post that said it took 50 minutes to dive out.
This updated article is saying it takes five hours. Eleven hours round-trip.
Frankly I was surprised at the 50 minute estimate, but figured maybe things were really falling into place or something:


Updated 0757 GMT (1557 HKT) July 5, 2018

Divers working to free 12 boys and their coach who are trapped in a cave in northern Thailand must navigate dark, flooded tunnels for six hours to reach them. It takes another five hours to return.

Thai cave rescue: Round trip to see boys takes 11 hours - CNN
＿

 

[*Verdigris]

Oh no, no, no!

"Some unregistered volunteers have joined the pumping effort but have pumped the water into the ground which has now flooded the cave somewhat. Authorities urge all volunteers to report to the operation centre and follow the official plans to avoid any more incidents like this again."

(We need a pulling-hair-out emoji...)

 

[Jax49]

Left behind: the two Thai boys who missed out on disastrous cave trip

Nearly a fortnight ago, the boys of the Wild Boar football club finished football practice and started riding their bikes to the Tham Luang Nang Non cave for a picnic. Two members of the team stayed behind.

Songpol Kanthawong, 13, did not take a bike to practice that day. Thaweechai Nameng, 13, was ordered by his parents to return home to catch up on his homework.

He is worried but feels a twinge of relief that his family is not experiencing what those of his teammates are undergoing. “My mum says if I was one of the kids in the cave she would have been in the ICU right now,” Kanthawong says.

 

[MsFacetious]

• Chiang Rai provincial governor Narongsak Osatanakorn said they were in a “race against time” and were evaluating risk levels to assess when they should evacuate rescue teams, given the predicted rainfall later this week.

Thailand cave rescue: boys may be able to 'walk out' as water levels drop – live

You don't evacuate the rescue teams... you bring them all out. I can't imagine rescuers being willing to leave the boys in there.

 

[MsFacetious]

Oh no, no, no!

"Some unregistered volunteers have joined the pumping effort but have pumped the water into the ground which has now flooded the cave somewhat. Authorities urge all volunteers to report to the operation centre and follow the official plans to avoid any more incidents like this again."

(We need a pulling-hair-out emoji...)

Chiang Mai CityNews - Rescue Updates: Teenager Football Team Found Alive in Cave

HOW DO YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?!
13 LIVES are on the line here. Why does ANYONE unauthorized have access to the pumps?! O.M.G.

 

[SunVenus]

Chiang Mai CityNews - Rescue Updates: Teenager Football Team Found Alive in Cave

HOW DO YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?!
13 LIVES are on the line here. Why does ANYONE unauthorized have access to the pumps?! O.M.G.

Oh my. That is a shame. Peoples' hearts are obviously in the right place, but I think very few people realise just how difficult a rescue this is going to be. I hope that the officials in charge can get these willing, open-handed good Samaritans focused on useful things they can do to aide in the rescue efforts.

 

[JanetElaine]

Divers took more than three hours to reach the ledge where the boys are sheltering on Monday, but moving with the current on their return took about 50 minutes.
Thai cave rescue: boys 'learning to dive' before new storm

I was so busy fretting that I never even thought about which way the current goes. Good question Verdigris. And the quote that Bravo posted gives me hope. I'm sure it will take longer than 50 minutes for/with the boys, but at least the current going with them on the way out is very positive. They about needed a break, something to go their way!

ETA after reading to the end of the thread - I just pray it's actually true. So many different numbers being thrown around...

 

[SunVenus]

• Chiang Rai provincial governor Narongsak Osatanakorn said they were in a “race against time” and were evaluating risk levels to assess when they should evacuate rescue teams, given the predicted rainfall later this week.

Thailand cave rescue: boys may be able to 'walk out' as water levels drop – live

You don't evacuate the rescue teams... you bring them all out. I can't imagine rescuers being willing to leave the boys in there.

I'm with you-- I feel any and all of the rescuers would be loathe to leave these boys. But it worries me that they may have to pull rescuers out. Sometimes that happens. No one wants additional casualties, and the types of rescuers they seem to have need of here are highly skilled, multi-faceted sorts of people. (e.g. trained medics who are also spelunkers, who are also expert cave divers.) Hard to find anyone to fill those shoes. (Or fins, as it were. )

 

[JanetElaine]

Oh no, no, no!

"Some unregistered volunteers have joined the pumping effort but have pumped the water into the ground which has now flooded the cave somewhat. Authorities urge all volunteers to report to the operation centre and follow the official plans to avoid any more incidents like this again."

(We need a pulling-hair-out emoji...)

I could post a picture of myself... I'm pulling my hair out right now! Pump the other way and pump HARD!