Whilst the world looks on in great anticipation, we must not forget those who are defying the odds and risking their own lives to free 12 children ranging in age between 11 and 16 and their assistant soccer coach.
The nightmare began after a Saturday morning football practice some two weeks ago. As part of a birthday celebration the 12 boys and their teacher Ekkapol decided to celebrate, by riding their bikes to a seemingly magical cave known as ‘Tham Luang’. Tham Luang Nang Non is a karstic cave complex beneath Doi Nang Non, a mountain range on the border between Thailand and Myanmar.
The caves notoriety has turned it into somewhat of a magnet for teenaged adventurers. According to locals, boys regularly explore the cave system for entertainment.
After spending $28 at the local shop buying food, soft drink and sweets, Ekkapol and the students rode their bikes down to the cave, left them at the entrance and descended deep into the cave. Signage clearly stated that venturing inside during the wet season was dangerous because of the risk of sudden flooding, however this was a place they knew very well, well at least that was what they thought.
Sadly for all concerned, there journey of exploration was badly timed. A torrential downpour left them in a dire predicament.
When the children didn’t return home later that afternoon, concerned family members raised the alarm.
The children’s parents then took matters into their own hands and drove the boys soccer coach to the cave. It was here near the entrance he found their bikes. With this discovery, he knew without hesitation that the boys and their coach were inside possibly trapped. As he ventured in himself calling out to them, he knew the danger of going in too far, so he turned around and waited for authorities.
A Dutch diver assisting with the rescue said the 12 boys were led into the cave by their assistant soccer coach as part of an initiation ritual where they inscribe their names on one of the rock faces but this is still yet to be confirmed.
Ekkapols role in this gripping tale of misadventure has been subject to intense scrutiny by the Thai press, but there seems little doubt that he has played a substantial role in helping the boys remain calm and safe.
Ekkapol lost both parents, and chose to become a monk studying whilst living in the temple in Lamphun. He found peace and personal comfort in prayer and meditation. He had a great passion for football, and through the years met and befriended many hill tribe children on the Thai-Myanmar border. Like him, many were poor, so he formed a football team three years ago to give the children something to do.
A huge rescue operation was initiated to find the boys, but with nine days passing and hope deteriorating, no one expected to find anyone alive.
Hundreds of volunteers and officials set up camp outside the cave. Success came from a small team of two British cave divers, John Volanthen (47) and Rick Stanton (56).
At 9.40pm on Monday 2ndJuly, these two divers with years of cave diving experience emerged out of the darkness and shone their torch light onto the relieved faces of Ekapol and the boys. The divers recorded a short video which has now been seen world-wide by millions.
“How many of you?” The divers ask.
“Thirteen,” Adul Samon, 14, one of the boys said.
“Brilliant.”
“What day is it?” Adul shouted back, before telling the divers they were hungry.
Ekkapol was reportedly suffering from malnutrition, after giving nearly all of the available food in the cave to the boys and teaching them to meditate to pass the time. Two of the boys are also suffering from the same condition, as concerns grow over the group’s mental wellbeing in the dark, claustrophobic chamber. In the short term malnutrition causes tiredness, irritability, depression and the suppression of the immune system.
Thirteen foreign divers and five Thai Navy Seals entered the cave at 10.00am on Sunday as dark monsoon rainclouds loomed over the mountain tops.
After thorough search of the surrounding area to try and find another way into the cave seemed hopeless, a decision was made that the boys and teacher would have to take part in an underwater escape. The children, all who cant swim and their coach must dive through dark, muddy conditions with narrow passageways, sometimes no more than 38 centimetres wide. Visability is zero.
Each child were given swimming lessons and trial runs using a full face breathing apparatus. Each child would be attached to a navy seal in front of them and this seal would carry the oxygen for both. The back up seal who travels behind the child was there to ensure he would feel fully supported and not panic through the journey. The main role of the two divers was to help them navigate the muddy water, strong currents and oxygen-depleted air as they attempt to make their way out of the cave.
Australian cave diver and engineer Ron Allum said even for an experienced diver, the journey would be “quite scary”.
The dangers of the cave rescue were highlighted when a former Thai Navy Seal volunteer, died in the cave after passing out from lack of oxygen. Divers and engineers have been working tirelessly pumping water out of the cave to make areas easier to navigate.
At one point there was even talk that the children and their coach may be trapped for weeks, potentially months until Thailands rainy season ends.
Australian Doctor/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 had been trapped for 15 days. 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.
It was Richard Harris who gave the all clear for 4 of the healthiest boys to be extracted on Sunday night. The boys were immediately placed into either an ambulance or an army chopper and taken to hospital where all staff were waiting to treat them. A whole floor has been put aside under police guard so that they can be all together through their recovery. Those rescued are undergoing medical checks in hospital while in quarantine, meaning they are not yet allowed close contact with relatives due to fear of infections.
The second phase of rescue began Monday. Four more children appeared and again were rushed to hospital. The Thai authorities have been very reserved about what information they are prepared to release to the press. Currently, no pictures have been published of any of the rescued children out of respect to the parents who still have children inside the cave. Those rescued so far are said to be in reasonably good health.
Rescue operations are currently suspended giving the navy seals much needed rest before the same navy seals re-enter the cave and it gives time allowing others to replenish the oxygen tanks for the next extraction.
The remaining trapped boys and their coach have enough food now for four months, but rescuers want to evacuate the final five as soon as possible before the cave possibly floods again in the monsoonal rains, possibly later today.
Australia has sent a total of 19 people to help Thai authorities rescue the children and their coach.
This group includes Australian Federal Police divers supporting the Thai Navy. The divers formed part of the ‘daisy chain’ of rescuers who led four of the 12 boys out the cave system to the surface on Sunday.
An AFP Commander and a specialist response group supervisor arrived on July 6 to support the dive team in a co-ordination role.
The AFP has also deployed a liaison officer, media coordinator, psychologist and chaplain.
Two Australian Defence Force specialists have been deployed to assist rescue operation planning and recovery.
ADF personnel based at the Australian Embassy in Bangkok have also been supporting coordination in Chiang Rai.
And Two Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade crisis response team officers have been deployed to assist the Australians with co-ordination.
But Australia is far from the only country helping out.
Experts have since come to the site from around the world, including teams from the US, UK, China, Myanmar and Laos.
As of Monday, about 50 of the 90 divers at the scene are foreign experts.
As navy divers and Thai soldiers work around the clock to free the boys, hundreds and hundreds of volunteers have set up a 24-hour tent city in the middle of a remote national park to feed and support them.
Virtually everything here is free. Food and drink stalls serve thousands of meals every day to anyone who wants one.
A medical tent offers free health care or even a stretcher bed to lie down for weary rescue workers. There’s even a tent where barbers are cutting hair for free.
The camaraderie is heart-warming, and it is a welcome change in a country where most of the big news events of the past decade have involved conflict or sadness. It is Thailand’s new king Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun who initially seemed to shun the role expected of him when he inherited the throne, who has provided most of the food.
Every day at the expense of the palace, truck loads of food are delivered to the stalls where volunteers unload them and begin cooking. The Thai people are so thrilled that the King has given his full support to the rescue efforts.
The children themselves, have since wrote letters to their parents asking for fried chicken and no homework. They also were very keen to know the soccer results and have since been offered an all expenses paid trip by the FiFA to attend the World Cup Final in Russia. But that would depend on their health and how quickly passports could be arranged.
For now all we can do is sit back and watch this historic event unfold and keep all in our prayers for a positive outcome.
****(Latest update, the first four boys have been allowed to visit with their parents, however only through a glass screen until they have the all clear of potential infections and diseases they might have picked up in the cave. Blood tests have been taken, and flown to Bangkok, however it could be possibly days before those results are known. The hospital is now trying to arrange a telephone into the room so that the children can at least talk to their parents as they could in fact be in hospital for weeks. The boys have already been diagnosed with minor lung infections, and all eight have malnutrition and low body temperatures. They are all wearing dark sunglasses to protect their eyes 24/7 and they do have a television in the room but they are stopping the children from watching it, to safeguard their mental health, whilst the third and final phase of rescue gets under way. They have been given food, pureed porridge but very slowly to allowed their starved stomachs to adjust.
American space entrepreneur Elon Musk arrived in Thailand on Tuesday night with aprototype mini-sub, at the flooded cave where the last five children and their coach remained trapped.
Musk is quoted as tweeting, “Just returned from Cave 3. “Mini-sub is ready if needed. It is made of rocket parts & named Wild Boar after kids’ soccer team. Leaving here in case it may be useful in the future.
For now, it appears, the mini sub won’t be required, as the authorities and navy seals continue to use the method in place which has worked quite effectively for the first two phases of extraction.
As of 3pm Tuesday 10 July, it has just been reported that the rescue team two hours ago, have once again gone back into the cave to extract the remainder of the team. ****
