A former Thai military diver helping to rescue a youth soccer team trapped inside a flooded cave complex yesterday drowned as officials warned the window of opportunity to free the youngsters is “limited.”
The diver’s death raises serious doubts over the safety of attempting to evacuate the 12 boys and their soccer coach out through cramped passageways deep inside the waterlogged Tham Luang cave system.
However, the commander of the Royal Thai Navy’s special operations unit yesterday said that rescuers might have little choice but to attempt the tricky extraction of the group, the first official admission that authorities cannot wait out the monsoon underground.
“At first, we thought the children could stay for a long time ... but now things have changed, we have a limited time,” Apakorn Yookongkaew told reporters.
A somber mood has clouded the elation from earlier in the week, when the boys were found disheveled and hungry, but alive on a ledge kilometers inside the cave.
‘SAD NEWS’
The diver, identified as Saman Kunont, passed out and died while returning from the chamber where the boys are trapped.
He was part of a team trying to establish an oxygen line to the chamber where the children are awaiting rescue. Many of the boys — aged between 11 to 16 — do not know how to swim and none have diving experience.
Chiang Rai Deputy Governor Passakorn Boonyaluck delivered the “sad news” of the diver’s death to reporters massed at the entrance to the cave complex.
“On his way back he lost consciousness,” Apakorn said, adding that the diver died despite the desperate efforts of his team to help bring him out. “We lost one man, but we still have faith to carry out our work.”
Asked how the boys could make it out safely if an experienced diver could not, Apakorn said they would take more precautions with the children.
Even for expert divers, the journey is an exhausting 11-hour round-trip.
Officials vowed to investigate the death and have sent the diver’s body to a local hospital for an autopsy.
CHALLENGING OPERATION
The accident marks the first major setback for the gargantuan effort, which started almost two weeks ago after the “Wild Boars” team went into the cave in northern Thailand following soccer practice.
Their ordeal has gripped Thailand, with the nation holding its breath for their safe escape.
Messages of support and prayers for the boys have flooded social media.
However, the unprecedented rescue mission has been dogged by the threat of rains.
Downpours forecast for yesterday morning held off, giving a glimmer of respite to the rescue workers who are pumping out water while plotting the complicated extraction plan.
The boys have been receiving basic training in breathing and managing diving equipment in case the order to evacuate is given.
However, authorities are reluctant to allow them to dive out of the cave, given the extreme risks.
Other options under consideration are waiting out the monsoon — which could take months — or climbing out through a crack in the rock face, if one can be found.
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