Rescuers in Thailand to conduct an operation to rescue 12 teenagers and their football coach out of the flooded caves. Bi-bi-si tells how will be the rescue operation.
The coach of the team with some players. Photo: Facebook
By the time they were found on Monday, July 2, the children and coach are held in the cave for nine days without food and light.
However, due to the incessant rains the children may have to spend another few weeks or even months.
How do they get out?
One option is to teach young people to swim with akvalangisty equipment.
“Option with salvation by means of diving the fastest but most dangerous,” said Bi-bi-si, the coordinator of the National Commission of the United States to rescue the lost in the caves Anmar Mirza.
It took a few days to ensure that they were able to get divers from among the best in the world . Earlier it was reported that some children do not know how to swim, and they would have to overcome rapid currents and small spaces, and can move in conditions of poor visibility.
Rescuers can provide boys paolicelli masks for diving, oxygen tanks and auxiliary light sources, as well as set guiding the rope all the way. But experts believe that the risk is still high.
Regional coordinator of the international organization for rescue and evacuation of people under water in the caves EDD Sorenson said Bi-bi-si, that the option of diving is too dangerous and should be considered in the last turn.
“When a person is in conditions of zero visibility, when it is not adapted to such conditions, it is likely that he will start to panic and kill either himself or the rescuers”.
Drilling
Thai authorities tried to drill holes in the walls of the cave to try to drain some water, but it is not possible to make solid stone rock.
Consider the evacuation of boys from the cave and disposal of the helicopter through the drilled hole. But it would have required to lay a new road to the cave complex to deliver heavy equipment for drilling.
Another option is to wait until the end to flood, so that the group could leave the cave on foot. But it may take a few months — now in the midst of the rainy season.
What they might face in the cave?
Adolescents aged from 11 to 16 years and their 25-year-old coach are on a tight hillside cave. It very damp, so they need to stay warm and dry to prevent hypothermia.
While children are not rescued, they need to keep calm and not to leave the land on which they are located.
Otherwise, they may fall from the cliff, or they may carry over the water.
“The main problem is that they need to move in the dark,” said the former head of the British Association of caving Andy IVIS.
Three tips from a Chilean miner
Chilean Luis Urzua spent in 2010 for 69 days underground awaiting rescue. The story of the Chilean miners, trapped underground, eight years ago made headlines around the world in the same way as the loss and finding Thai adolescents.
According to Urzua, the most important thing in this situation is to monitor the state of health, both physical and psychological. Children have already got divers with the skills of first aid, and children should carefully listen to their advice, including nutrition: they nine days had eaten nothing, and improper exit from a forced hunger strike is harmful to health.
The second important point is to maintain the presence of the spirit and not to be discouraged, says Urzua. He recalls that when his group of miners found were all very happy, but then came the decline because of the imminent salvation did not have to wait.
Finally, he said, it is important to work as a team and support each other — just so happens to survive awaiting rescue.
How do they help?
On Tuesday, July 3, the children delivered food and medical supplies.
“We will prepare to ship additional supplies of food, which should be enough for at least four months, as well as train all are there 13 people diving. The pumping of water from the cave complex will be continued”, — is spoken in the message of the armed forces of Thailand.
According to authorities, the children mostly were not injured, only some of them weakened or received minor injuries.
Meanwhile, divers continue to deliver in the cave hundreds of oxygen tanks and soon plan to break in the cave camp.
How to keep calm?
“Being in the dark strong impact man,” said IVIS.
Adolescents may have been carrying flashlights and cell phones, but most likely they spent a long time in the dark. Therefore, the rescuers provide a group of lamps, and communicate with the trapped teenagers.
Divers are preparing to hold back the electricity and telephone service, to enable children to talk with their parents. With this in mind we can say that the rescue operation is successful.
“They don’t panic, and it’s great — said the Belgian diver Ben Remenants participating in the rescue operation. Very lucky that the coach has managed to keep everyone in the group, in close proximity to each other to save energy. In fact, they saved them”.
