US joins rescue efforts for Thai soccer team that went missing 6 days ago
A team of 30 individuals from the U.S. Pacific Command were dispatched to Thailand to help with the efforts to rescue a youth soccer team from a cave.
Twelve players between the ages 11 and 16 and their coach have been lost in Thailand’s Tham Luang Nang Non caves since Saturday.
Waters are rising inside the Thai cave where a boys' soccer team has been trapped for days https://t.co/vrAR3IQCBP
— TIME (@TIME) June 27, 2018
After an intrasquad match last Saturday morning, the team entered the caves, reported the CBC. These types of excursions were not unusual for the team, the report said.
“The kids have been in the cave before, but they didn’t think that going in at this time would be that dangerous,” said Chote Narin, an officer at Mae Sai district police station, according to the report.
Thai Navy SEAL and related rescue agencies are still searching for missing soccer players and their coach in #ThamLuangCave. They expect high possibility to find the survivors soon. Our prayers are with the rescue team and their families, hoping they arrive home safe and sound. pic.twitter.com/xg73v54WbQ
— PR Thai Government (@prdthailand) June 27, 2018
Heavy rains on Saturday caused flooding in the cave system, which officials believed caused the team to seek higher ground further inside the roughly six-mile cave system. The caves are filled with narrow passageways, wide open spaces and changes in elevation, reported the Associated Press.
Dive teams have been sent in to find the boys and their coach. England has joined the U.S. in sending search-and-escue teams to assist.
“The United States team is now in Chiang Rai and delivering search-and-rescue experience and capacity to the already tremendous efforts underway by Thai authorities,” the embassy said, according to USA Today. “We hope the players and their coach will be brought home quickly and safely.”
Rescuers have found some of the boys’ belongings in the cave, raising hope that they pushed back further insider the caves to safety, reported the CBC. But rescue efforts are complicated.
“Divers are in dark areas that are not flat, and there’s mud and rocks everywhere. Therefore, for the SEAL team that’s there, when they dive, sometimes one tank can only go as far as 30 meters and they have to turn back,” Thai Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda said, according to the AP.
The caves are located in northern Thailand, near the Myanmar border.
Thai authorities have been trying to pump the water out to help rescue efforts, but continued rain has made it difficult. They are also searching for alternative entrances and are considering drilling, the AP reported.
However, three rescuers were electrocuted by electrical lines run into the caves to power the lights and pumps, CBS News reported. The injuries were minor, and the rescuers are in stable condition.
Anmar Mirza, national coordinator of the National Cave Rescue Commission in the U.S. and editor of the book “Manual of U.S. Cave Rescue Techniques,” told the AP the boys could survive four to five days with no water and a month or more with water and food.
“The biggest concern is them getting desperate and trying to enter swift moving water,” Mirza said. Hypothermia should not be an issue as the cave is warm enough inside.
The U.S. military has joined the hundreds of researchers on the ground who are desperately looking for the 12 young Thai soccer players and their coach. https://t.co/oZen9LvRDy
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) June 29, 2018
Parents have camped out outside the cave in the pouring rain, praying and waiting for signs of their children.
“There has to be faith. Faith makes everything a success,” Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told families waiting outside the cave, reported CBS. “Faith in the actions of officials. Faith in our children who are strong and vigorous. Everything will go back to normal.”
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