WHITE PEOPLE VALUE LIFE SHA.........Breaking: First two members of the Thai soccer team have been rescued from the cave
The first two Thai schoolboys have been brought out 'alive and well'
after divers executed a carefully constructed rescue mission.
The starved and exhausted pair are currently being transported to
hospital in a military helicopter. They were treated at the cave's
entrance before an ambulance rushed them to the helicopter which was on
standby.
According to Tossathep Boonthong, chief of Chiang Rai’s health
department and part of the rescue team, ''Two kids are out, yhey
received treatment at the field hospital near the cave.'
An extraction team of 18 international divers started their
'extremely dangerous' operation at 10am local time after the boys'
anxious families were informed. All of the youngsters and their
25-year-old coach are expected to emerge one by one from the cave as
early as 9pm if everything goes to plan, Governor Narongsak said.
Each boy will be accompanied by two divers on the perilous 4km
(2.5miles) journey through murky waters and narrow tunnels. It's
understood they will be able to walk most of the way after teams drained
the water level by 30cm (12ins) last night.
According to Thai media the trapped boys were expected to be divided
into four groups - with the first group containing four boys and the
second, third and fourth containing three players each. The boys are
trapped 800 metres below ground, which is the equivalent of two Empire
State Buildings on top of one another.
'Today is D-Day,' the governor who has led the rescue announced. 'The
water level has reached the lowest it has been in ten days. We ask to
pray that this operation is a success.' HOWEVER RECENT NEWS HAS IT THAT
Six boys among a group of 13 trapped in a flooded Thai cave for more
than a fortnight were rescued on Sunday, authorities said, raising hopes
elite divers would also quickly save the others.
The first two boys emerged about nightfall from the Tham Luang cave
complex after navigating a treacherous escape route of more than four
kilometres (2.5 miles) through twisting, narrow and jagged passageways.
They were followed shortly afterwards by four others, leading to an
explosion of jubilation on social media in Thailand and around the world
as the rescued boys were rushed to hospital.
“Six of them came out,” a defence ministry official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
Foreign elite divers and Thai Navy SEALS on Sunday morning began the
complex operation to extract the 12 boys and their football coach as
they raced against time, with imminent monsoon rains threatening more
flooding that would doom the mission.
“Today is the D-day. The boys are ready to face any challenges,”
rescue chief Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters near the cave site on
Sunday morning.
The group became trapped in a cramped chamber deep inside Tham Luang
in a mountainous area of northern Thailand on June 23, when they went in
after football practice and got caught behind rising waters.
Their plight transfixed Thailand and the rest of the world, as
authorities struggled to devise a plan to get the boys — aged between 11
and 16 — and their 25-year-old coach out.
– ‘Mission Impossible’ –
The rescue of the first six was a stunning victory in an operation
Narongsak had earlier dubbed “Mission Impossible”, and led to cautious
optimism that the others would also be saved.
Another official involved in the rescue operation said the initial six who had been saved formed a first group.
A second group made up of the others had also begun the journey from
the chamber where they had been trapped, a rescue worker told AFP.
The quick extraction came as a surprise after one of the operation
commanders said on Sunday morning the rescue efforts could take several
days to complete.
The group was found dishevelled and hungry by British cave diving specialists nine days after they ventured in.
Initial euphoria over finding the boys alive quickly turned into deep
anxiety as rescuers struggled to find a way to get them out.
The death of a former Thai Navy SEAL diver who ran out of oxygen in
the cave on Friday underscored the danger of the journey even for
professionals.
After a short deluge of rain on Saturday night and with more bad
weather forecast, Narongsak on Sunday said authorities had to act
immediately.
“There is no other day that we are more ready than today,” he said. “Otherwise we will lose the opportunity.”
Between the base camp inside the cave and the trapped boys were
twisting, turning cave passageways with torrents of water gushing
through.
The water in the cave was muddy and unclear, with one diver comparing
it to a cafe latte. Ropes were installed to help guide the boys through
the darkness.
Narongsak said Sunday morning two divers would escort each of the boys out of the cave.
– Rescue efforts –
Officials had looked at many different ways to save the boys and their coach.
One early potential plan was to leave them there for months until the
monsoon season ended and the floods subsided completely, but that idea
was scrapped over concerns about falling oxygen levels and waters rising
too high.
More than 100 exploratory holes were also bored — some shallow, but
the longest 400 metres deep — into the mountainside in an attempt to
open a second evacuation route and avoid forcing the boys into the
dangerous dive.
American technology entrepreneur Elon Musk even deployed engineers
from his private space exploration firm SpaceX and Boring Co. to help.
Meanwhile rescuers fed a kilometres-long air pipe into the cave to
restore oxygen levels in the chamber where the team was sheltering with
medics and divers.
– Emotional notes –
On Saturday, Thai Navy SEALs published touching notes scrawled by the
trapped footballers to their families, who had been waiting for them
agonisingly close by outside the cave entrance.
The boys urged relatives “not to worry” and asked for their favourite
food once they were safely evacuated, in notes handed to divers.
In one, Pheerapat, nicknamed “Night”, whose 16th birthday the group
were celebrating in the cave when they became stuck on June 23, said: “I
love you, Dad, Mum and my sister. You don’t need to be worried about
me.”
AFP.
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