CHIANG RAI (Thailand): Divers managed to reach closer to where the 13 missing footballers are expected be taking refuge in northern Thailand’s flooded cave today, igniting a spark of hope for the search as it enters the 8th day.
Divers from the Thai navy’s elite SEAL unit were groping their way through the murky waters filling passages of the 10 km underground maze of the Tham Luang cave. They are taking food, electrical equipment and telephone wires as they are trying to set up an control center in a chamber about 3 km away from where the boys are believed to be, according to Narongsak Osottanakorn, governor of Chiang Rai province.
The water pumped out from the cave is less muddy than it was three days ago, meaning that there is less flood coming from outside, said the governor. Divers reached the same spot earlier in the week but were forced back by rushing floodwaters. The weather turns sunny in the last two days, allowing the rescue team to pick up the pace to pump the floodwater from the cave.
The divers brought 200 bottles of oxygen to the cave and left them every 25 meters along the tunnel walls so swimmers navigating the muddy pools with almost no visibility could stay under for longer. Doctors with diving skills stand ready to enter the cave once the boys were found.
A relevant piece published earlier: Desperate parents led a prayer ceremony outside a flooded cave in northern Thailand where 12 children and their football coach have been trapped for days, as military rescue divers packing food rations resumed their search Tuesday. Hundreds of people have been mobilized to find the youngsters who went into the Tham Luang cave on Saturday and were trapped when heavy rains flooded its main entrance. Anxious relatives camped out to perform traditional rituals, making offerings and reciting emotional prayers for their children’s safe return. “I asked for all God’s wishes, but I’m certain in my heart that they will survive. They have been inside the cave before,” the father of one of the young footballers said. Some relatives wailed at the cave’s entrance near the Laos and Myanmar border, where huge crowds have gathered near stockpiles of water and food. “My child, I’m here to get you now,” one crying parent said, while another screamed: “Come home, my child!”. The children, aged between 11 and 16, are thought to have retreated further into the tunnel as monsoon rains fell and flooded the cave, believed to be several kilometers (miles) long. Rescuers found bicycles, football boots and backpacks at the entrance to the site Monday, and divers said they spotted footprints in one of the cave’s chambers. (26th June 2018)
