PHOTO: Army doctor Colonel Pak Loharachun on Wednesday prepares inside the cave to treat minor wounds sustained by the football group members – Thai Navy SEALS
“The fittest of the survivors would be the first to come out, others will follow,” Narongsak Osotanakorn, Chiang Rai governor and head of the rescue operations, said yesterday.
Rescuers don’t want to delay their exit as a end result of upcoming rains and the chance of more flooding in cave.
The 13 youngsters and their 25 year outdated coach are now familiarising themselves with diving gear as rescue planners concluded yesterday that they should dive via floodwaters to get out of the Tham Luang cave, where they have been stranded since June 23.
The easing of the flood scenario has raised the prospects of serving to the thirteen footballers come out of the cave where they have spent 11 days.
“The floodwater levels have been dropping by one centimetre per hour. If we will maintain this momentum, it must be safe enough to deliver the youngsters out soon,” Narongsak mentioned.
Accredited ’s nationwide coordinator Anmar Mirza stated that whereas diving was the quickest option to bring the survivors out, it was additionally the “most dangerous” possibility. But the choice of letting the survivors keep contained in the cave till the floodwaters fully receded was yesterday ruled out amid the significant threat of impending heavy downpours that would once more depart the cave flooded.
The 10 kilometre lengthy collapse Chiang Rai province is generally flooded between July and November yearly. On Monday night, skilled cave divers from Britain discovered the missing soccer group at a spot about 5km from the cave’s entrance.
The 13 survivors will keep put at their current location while detailed preparations are being made for their safe evacuation. They have been joined by Royal Thai Navy SEALs and are also provided with soft meals, water, mild, medication, thermal blankets and diving gear.
The survivors yesterday started to learn to put on full-face masks and practice respiratory. Medics, including Army physician Colonel Pak Loharachun, have completed health checks for all team members and located them relatively wholesome.
One footballer requested in a video posted yesterday, “Can we exit today?” Pak told the boys to be affected person, explaining that regardless of his diving expertise it took him six hours to move from the third chamber of the cave to the current location of the survivors.
The third chamber of the cave, which is about two kilometres from the entrance, is now operating as the forward command of the rescue operations. Lighting and communication gadgets have been installed there and also supplied with oxygen tanks, drugs and all different needed provides. From the third chamber to the flooded T-junction is a distance of about 800 metres. From that intersection, there’s a narrow and fully submerged passage that requires rescue groups to dive to get via. The floodwater level there was almost five metres as of press time. After getting out of this slender passage, rescue groups need to climb and hike a stretch of four hundred metres. This zone is dry. Then, they have to dive for about another a hundred thirty metres to achieve the so-called Pattaya Beach. Then the staff should stroll further over the seaside earlier than making one other four hundred metre lengthy dive to achieve the slope where the survivors have gathered.
All these survivors should be taught to swim and dive earlier than being escorted out. Even with diving experts by their aspect, the group will have to dive and swim on their own at some factors in the journey out of the cave.
A rescue staff from the United States Indo-Pacific Command has vowed to support the operations on the Tham Luang cave till all 13 survivors are safely brought out..