12 boys lost in flooded Thai cave

[Kay Dee]

............The dive gear the rescuers are using seems to be working so I won't comment.

As the saying goes Dan "What works, works".

 

[Diver Dan 28]

What ever the out come it's going to be a block buster. As to the equipment the natives are using, it seems to have worked. It looks as though they didn't spend a ridicules amount of money on their dive gear. Sorry cave divers, sometimes you gotta go with what you have on hand. I question all the needless expensive equipment and back up this and that.
I almost died in a cave.
So I'd say if it works to help or save a fellow diver go with it. Honestly I don't think the kids or any diver would say, "hold on you don't have a Zeagle regulator, or rocket fins, or a rebreather.
I think they will be happy to be found. By a cave diver with an inner tube on his back. Just mt stupied two cents

 

[Dan]

...I think they will be happy to be found. By a cave diver with an inner tube on his back. Just mt stupied two cents

Where did you get that info? I saw a guy with just an inner tube on his back without BCD & tank which indicates that he won't plan to go scuba diving. I have never seen a cave diver wearing such a set up. It's already tight enough in one sump that they had to remove their BCD & tank setup to get through the tunnel.

In regards to zero visibility, I dove in Chucmool Little Brother cenote in Mexico a couple years ago. The visibility was great at the beginning. Towards the end, there must have been a heavy rain outside, bringing mud into the cenote entrance / exit to a point that I could not see anything but milky brownish water. Going forward I ended up hitting a limestone wall. I didn't see even the guide fins, that were used to be 2-3 feet in front of me. I just froze in place until the guide's hand grabbed my arm from under and drag me down through invisible tunnel & out of the mud hole. Apparently the exit hole was below me. If you are not familiar with the exit location, you might end up with just blindly searching for the opening as I could not see anything & lost track of the guideline.

 

[oldschoolto]

They have some of the best cave divers in the world plus unlimited resources.. The cave is not flooded the whole length..

Spending the time to get the kids comfortable with the divers and swimming is very doable... Two divers working one person at a time through the flooded parts..

And to all the people that said "Sanctum" was a joke.. You're gonna be seeing the real deal here.. Life is sometimes stranger then fiction..

Jim...

 

[Dan]

Chiang Mai CityNews - LIVE Updates: Teenager Football Team Trapped in Thai Cave

“At 10.27am Wednesday, The Nation published an article that quoted the two British divers explaining how it was luck that they found the boys when they did because their rope finished at exactly that spot, forcing them to surface in the cave. The said that if the rope was just 15m shorter, they would have turned back and the boys would have spent another night alone in the cave.”

 

[Dogbowl]

Not sure if this has been already posted, but here is a link that describes in a little more detail what they actually plan to do, which will be reassessed as time goes on:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/04/thai-cave-rescuers-race-time-trapped-boys-monsoon-storm

Here’s an excerpt:

Mermaid Subsea Services in Bangkok, a company that usually provides equipment for undersea oil and gas extraction efforts, has been in talks with Thai authorities to supply masks for any attempt to extract the children through the cave system. The company is sourcing AGA Divator masks – full face scuba models – that are specially fitted for children.

The boys will be dressed in wetsuits, boots and helmets, and divers will use an 8mm static rope that is already in place to guide them through the cave system, said Changkwanyuen.

It is unlikely the boys will carry their own 12-litre oxygen tanks – they are more likely to be provided the oxygen from a navy diver’s supply. In addition to this primary supply, fully filled “stage tanks” are also in place every 25 to 50 metres along the route, allowing the boys quick access to oxygen if their stocks are running low.

 

[Nick Steele]

I really hope this rescue doesn’t take too long and starts to cause it’s own problems. These kids are troopers and I’m sure that having connection to family and the presence of other people such as the UK cave divers and the SEALS are really helping them stay positive.

 

[Rhone Man]

At the risk of being an armchair QB, I'd certainly plan to take them out in small batches over several days. Firstly, that gives you a chance to replan and improve if the first one doesn't go so well. Second, best cave divers in the world would silt that all up to buggery if you run a parade of 30 of so people through gaps as tight as they are looking at.

 

[DandyDon]

Yeah, I don't think that fellow with the inner tube hoped to get it underwater. He was just carrying it to wherever it would be used for flotation in supporting something I think.

If this is accurate, it does show a lot of water to penetrate on the way out.

I can't see any hope in teach the kids to swim where they are now, but getting them comfortable with the full face masks and being towed in zero viz water should work. It sounds like they will go for exit any day now. It's 11pm Wednesday already there, so in the next 24 hours maybe...

“But rescuers have to work quickly because by Friday a storm is coming, and if the rain starts again the cave is going to be fully flooded,” Changkwanyuen said. “If that happens it will be almost impossible to send supplies or keep in touch with them.”

 

[Dogbowl]

And here’s a write up of the British cave divers involved in the rescue:

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.was...divers-at-the-center-of-thailand-cave-rescue/