Thai officials believe 12 boys missing in cave are alive

[Nereus]

First boys emerge from nightmare cave ordeal

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... recent_box

The first two boys made their way out through the flooded Tham Luang cave on Sunday evening, and were immediately airlifted to a hospital for medical treatment.

One of the first boys to emerge from the labyrinthine cave network in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai, was Mongkol Boonpiem, 13, according to sources. The name of the other was not immediately released.

They were airlifted by helicopter to Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital in Muang district.

The remaining boys and their coach will follow during the final stage of the week-long operation after rescuers decided on Sunday to bring the 13 out at 10am due to concerns that more rainfall could send more water into the cave. Rescuers earlier expected the first arrivals at the cavemouth at about 9pm.

All are members of the Mu Pa Academy Mae Sai football club. Twelve young footballers and their coach, Ekkapol Chantawong, entered the cave on June 23 and floodwater blocked their return, leading to one of the largest rescue operations in the history of the country.

[HHTel]

Well the news on the ground was that they were at the field hospital and the BBC has just issued a video of an ambulance leaving the cave area. The boys are believed to be in it.

But who cares as long as they're safe.

[Nereus]

Weather to determine how rescued 13 will be taken to hospital

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... recent_box

Weather conditions will play a key role in determining how 12 boys and their football coach will be transported from Tham Luang cave to a hospital in Chiang Rai.

Four helicopters are ready to airlift the 13, trapped deep inside a flooded cave since July 23, from the cavemouth in Mae Sai district to Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital in Muang district, according to rescue operation plans.

The choppers, belonging to the National Police Office and Royal Thai Army, are at two makeshift landing pads near the cave, to where 13 ambulances will deliver the patients once they have reached the surface. They will fly them to Wing 416 in Muang district, a journey of between seven and 10 minutes. From there, ambulances will transport them to the hospital, which is about one kilometre away.

If weather obstructs the airlift, the backup option is an overland journey, driving directly from the cave to the hospital, a distance of about 70 kilometres. The trip would take about one hour by road.

Roads from Wing 416 to Chiangrai Prachanukroh were partially closed for the final stage of the rescue operation on Sunday, when rescuers launched the treacherous evacuation operation from the bowels of Tham Luang cave.

Gen Pramote Imwattana of the Army Medical Department said once those trapped in the cave have been brought to the surface, they will be given an initial assessment by doctors and nurses awaiting them at the entrance of the cave.

Thirteen fully staffed medical teams are now stationed outside the cave -- one for each of the boys and their coach.
Medical staff involved in the mission say their first assessment will focus on the boys' breathing and signs of hypothermia.

They will also check for an airborne lung infection known as cave disease, which is caused by bat and bird droppings and can be fatal if it is untreated and spreads to other parts of the body.

Thongchai Lertwilairattanapong, an inspector general of the Public Health Ministry in charge of Chiang Rai, said the hospital stood ready for them. "We have been prepared and conducted rehearsals," he told Thai PBS on Sunday.

Dr Thongchai said there were no plans to send any of the rescued 13 to hospitals in Bangkok. "There are no differences in medical equipment between Bangkok and Chiang Rai," he said.

The boys and their coach, Ekkapol Chantawong, will receive medical treatment on the eighth floor of the hospital for at least 24 hours, during which time their family members will not be admitted. Results of the medical checks will come after 48 hours, and then family visits will be permitted.

Dr Thongchai said the teenagers and the coach could be discharged from the hospital to go home within five days if they are found healthy.

Since 3pm on Sunday, journalists and photographers have been barred from the area around Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital. The reporters were only allowed to station themeslves at a school about 1 kilometre away.

Layers of tarpaulin were also placed in front of the hospital to obstruct the media from seeing inside.

Thiravat Hemachudha, the director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Centre, said earlier that health authorities had concerns for not only the boys and their coach, but also rescuers working inside the camp.

“Aside from bats, there are also mosquitoes and various insects inside the cave. They may spread diseases,” he said, mentioning threats from bacteria, viruses and fungi.

“Our preparations do not indicate we think the stranded victims and rescuers have definitely caught diseases. We have just prepared measures that will deliver immediate help if they are infected,” Dr Thiravat said.

[RCer]

6 out now. I never doubted the capabilities of the cave divers.

[Highflyer]

Thanks to all for the posts in the last hour looking very positive for full rescue, Sky news reporting updates

[hhinner]

BBC is still saying only 4 out, as is Thai PBS. That would agree with what they were saying that the first group would be 4 kids and thereafter 3 at a time.

[HHTel]

Because the rescue so far has been super successful and much faster than originally thought, there is talk of the rescue being complete through the night.

Trust Trump to get his word in. "The US is working very closely with the Thai government in getting these boys out!"

[Nereus]

I just hope that they have locked up the keys to those helicopters overnight! The last thing that they need is some gung-ho pilot careering around in the middle of the night in a rain storm.

[Nereus]

'Better than expected' rescue suspended for night; 4 out


https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... recent_box

The head of the rescue operation to evacuate 12 boys and their coach from Tham Luang cave on Sunday said the operation had been successful so far, but the task will not be completed until the last person arrives at the cave entrance. The rescue operation has been put on hold while compressed air tanks are replaced.

Narongsak Osotthanakorn confirmed during a press briefing that four boys had been rescued and sent to Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital. The remaining nine are still at the location where divers had found them about 500 metres from the so-called Pattaya beach. The four rescued boys were safe, he said.

Earlier reports said three had already reached Chamber 3, the main base for divers inside the camp.
Rescuers expected the first boys to come out around 9pm - but the first emerged at 5.40pm.

"The operation today was more successful than we earlier expected," he said.
He said the next phase of the operation will resume in between 10 and 20 hours - probably late Monday morning or afternoon - as rescuers have to replaced empty compressed air tanks and perform other maintenance on the rescue system.

A rescuer said they have been ordered to be ready to resume the operation on Monday at 8am.

The Royal Thai Navy Seals also confirmed that Sunday's mission was over. "Good night and have a sweet dream. @Hooyah," the unit posted in a message on their Facebook page.

Mr Narongsak - now the governor of Phayao province - said 90 divers, 50 of them foreigners, had taken part in Sunday's operation starting at 10am.

Mr Narongsak said on Sunday morning that the boys and their coach were physically and mentally strong enough to dive their way out of Tham Luang. Their parents agreed to the decision, he added.

The boys are members for the Mu Pa Academy Mae Sai football club. They and their coach, Ekkapol Chantawong, were trapped inside Tham Luang cave by floodwaters after entering on June 23.

[HHTel]

Lots of misinformation being bandied about. It was 'confirmed' that 6 had been rescued. Then it was 4 with 2 in cave 3 ready to walk out in the morning. Furthermore when it was believed that half the boys were out in double quick time, it was rumoured that the rest would be out before morning.

The original plan was 4 + 3 + 3 + 3. I think that is the correct information and it will still be a couple of days before we can celebrate.

[404cameljockey]

I think if 2 boys are in cave 3 they can be considered as rescued already. So 6 is correct, but they just didn't walk the rest of the way out.

Wonderful news, but if I were religious I'd still be praying that no accident befalls any of the boys still to dive. It all sounds so perilous.

[Nereus]

First 'Wild Boars' emerge from nightmare cave ordeal

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... ave-ordeal

The first four people made their way out through the flooded Tham Luang cave on Sunday evening, and were immediately airlifted to a hospital for medical treatment.

The first two emerged from the entrance of the cave shortly before 6pm.

One of the first boys to emerge from the labyrinthine cave network in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai, was Mongkol Boonpiem, 13, according to sources. The name of the other was not immediately released.
They were airlifted by helicopter to Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital in Muang district.

The third boy came out of the cave at 7.15pm, sources in the operation said. Three others had reached Chamber 3, where they are receiving a medical check before rescuers take them the rest of the way out of the cave.

The Royal Thai Navy Seals confirmed later that three had been safely escorted out of the flooded cave. It added later that the fourth was brought out at 7.47pm.

That fourth person taken to hospital was the boys' football coach, Ekapol Chantawong, 25. He was said to be in one of the worst conditions because he had given the boys his share of the group’s meagre food supply before they were found.

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[HHTel]

The BP is the only source for this story. Because of all the misinformation going around, I'll wait and see. It has been confirmed by an official on Thai TV that the names of those rescued haven't been released, even to the parents, because of concerns about the reaction of other parents whose children are still trapped.

[Nereus]

Posted as a matter of general interest:
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The Aussie doctor who made the call on when boys could leave Thai cave

https://au.news.yahoo.com/aussie-doctor ... 53718.html

The Australian doctor and cave diving expert playing a critical role in the mission to rescue a young Thai soccer team from their flooded cave is a meticulous operator, according to his his colleagues.

Adelaide anaesthetist and underwater cave explorer Richard “Harry” Harris risked his own life on Saturday to make the treacherous journey to the chamber where the boys have been trapped underground for 15 days.

It was on his advice the first four boys were cleared to make the incredibly dangerous journey out of the flooded cave complex, emerging alive on Sunday.

Dr Harris, who has led record-breaking cave explorations, continues to play a key role in the international effort to rescue the remaining eight boys and their coach.

One former colleague says there are very good reasons why British caving experts working with Thai authorities at the site asked for the help of Dr Harris.

Bill Griggs used to be Dr Harris’s boss at South Australia’s emergency medical retrieval service, MedSTAR, where the anaesthetist still works.
“To do cave-diving, you have to be all about attention to detail and you have to be meticulous,” Dr Griggs has told ABC radio.

“The combination of his medical knowledge and his cave diving skills was clearly (why) the British guys requested that he come as well.”

Dr Harris, who has 30 years of diving experience, is well known in the cave diving community, including as the leader of record-breaking missions to explore a dark and dangerous underwater cave system on New Zealand’s South Island.

In 2011 and 2012, he led a team of Aussie divers to record depths of 194 and 221 metres in what’s believed to be one of the world’s deepest cold water caves, searching for the source of the Pearse River.

He filmed the dangerous and complex mission for National Geographic.
It required the team to set up a series of survival pods at intervals to allow divers to decompress, rest and eat in the near-freezing waters along the length of an underwater river – an experience that could prove invaluable in the current rescue mission.

Dr Harris’s dive team also had to contend with fast flowing water, as is the case in parts of the Thai cave complex, in water that was near freezing point.

The rescue divers and boys in Thailand must dive, swim and climb their way to safety along a pitch-black tunnel that at points is barely big enough to allow an adult human body to wriggle through.

[JWWhite]

“I dive for passion and always wondered if it would have purpose. Last two weeks was what I prepared for my entire life.” - John Volanthen, British cave diver who found the lost boys.