U.S. forces, British divers join search for boys missing in Thai cave

By Chayut Setboonsarng

 

Soldiers alight from a vehicle as they work near the Tham Luang cave complex during a search for members of an under-16 soccer team and their coach, in the northern province of Chiang Rai, Thailand, June 27, 2018. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

 

CHIANG RAI (Reuters) - U.S. forces and British divers have arrived in Thailand to help in the search for 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach believed trapped by floodwaters in a cave, as rescuers prepared to drill a shaft into the cave on the fifth day of the search.

 

Major Buncha Duriyapan, commander of the 37th Military District in Chiang Rai, said workers would drill down from the top of the Tham Luang cave complex in northern Chiang Rai province to create an alternative entrance for rescue workers.

 

Soldiers carry a radio near Tham Luang cave complex during a search for members of an under-16 soccer team and their coach, in the northern province of Chiang Rai, Thailand, June 28, 2018. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

 

"We will drill down from one of the chimneys," Buncha told reporters on Thursday.

 

"The expert divers went straight from the plane into the cave to make an assessment," he said, referring to the three British divers who landed in Thailand on Wednesday.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said 30 members of the United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) have joined the search operation.

 

"The United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) has sent 30 staff with equipment to help penetrate the cave walls," Prawit told reporters.

 

Search efforts, which have included Thailand's elite navy SEAL unit, have been hampered by heavy rain and flooding inside the cave where the boys, aged between 11 and 16, and their 25-year-old assistant coach went missing on Saturday.

 

Rescue workers on Thursday scoured the top of the mountain looking for alternative entrances to the cave, according to a Reuters reporter at the scene.

 

Thai National Deputy Police Chief Wirachai Songmetta said police officers would explore a one kms path to the right of the cave on Thursday.

 

So far, rescue teams have been focussing on a seven kms (four mile) long route to the left of the cave's entrance which they believe the boys and their coach took.

 

Authorities say they're optimistic the boys are still alive, but the toll of five days of no news was visible on the faces of the boys' relatives.

 

Family members, red-eyed from crying, said prayers on Thursday near the cave, led by a saffron-robed Buddhist monk.

 

"Observe your breath in this place of love. Love between mother, father and child," the monk told anxious relatives.

"Do not worry and wait for good news."

 

(Additional reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Michael Perry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-06-28

 

 

 

Thanks for coming!

I pray for a happy ending.

Come on guys!  We're all desperate for some positive news soon. 

15 minutes ago, webfact said:

"Observe your breath in this place of love. Love between mother, father and child," the monk told anxious relatives.

"Do not worry and wait for good news."

 

Excellent. Yet another piece of good advice from the likes of Buddha Issara.

 

That'll serve a purpose.

I want these boys to be found as everyone else , I want good news to make everyone happy ... I have comments to say about the rescue , I will keep to myself. So sad , it has taken so long an still have not found them .The parents of the boys are going through hell. This should not have happened in such a dangerous place in the rainy season .

US expresses concerns over trapped soccer team

By Thai PBS

 

Source: www.usembassy.gov

 

The United States has expressed worries about the young Thai soccer squad that is being trapped in the Tham Luang Cave in Chiang Rai.

 

In a statement issued by the US Embassy in Bangkok, it said it is “deeply worried about the young soccer players and their coach missing in the Tham Luang Cave in northern Thailand, as well as their families and supporters.”

 

The statement said the United States Pacific Command (PACOM) has sent a search and rescue team at the request of the Royal Thai government to assist in locating the group.   “The United States team is now in Chiang Rai and delivers search and rescue experience and capacity to the already tremendous efforts underway by Thai authorities. We hope the players and their coach will be brought home quickly and safely,” it said.

 

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/us-expresses-concerns-trapped-soccer-team/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2018-06-28

All we can do is hope and pray. 

 

Nail biting saga. 

 

US Pacific Command sends help

By The Nation

 

The United States has dispatched a team from the Navy Pacific Command to join the search for the group lost in a Chiang Rai cave, the US Embassy in Bangkok announced on Thursday.
 

“The United States is deeply worried about the young soccer players and their coach missing in Tham Luang Cave, as well as their families and supporters,” the embassy said in a statement.

 

“The United States Pacific Command (PACOM) has sent a search-and-rescue team at the request of the Royal Thai government to assist in locating the group.

 

“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. We hope the players and their coach will be brought home quickly and safely.”

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30348829

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-06-28

Great ! (Hopefully not too late)

 

The United States Pacific Command (PACOM) has sent a search-and-rescue team at the request of the Royal Thai government

Great, too.

 

"...at the request of the Royal Thai government"

I think they changed to the better

 

31 minutes ago, sweatalot said:

Great ! (Hopefully not too late)

 

The United States Pacific Command (PACOM) has sent a search-and-rescue team at the request of the Royal Thai government

Great, too.

 

"...at the request of the Royal Thai government"

I think they changed to the better

 

 

Crikey. Thais requesting assistance from foreigners.

 

Must be serious...

 

Could it be that the request was more royal than government?

US, UK and Laos assist in soccer team rescue operation in Chiang Rai

 

 

CHIANG RAI, 28 June 2018 (NNT) - The United States and Laos have deployed officials at Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai province to assist in the search for the missing members of a youth soccer team. 

The Embassy of the United States in Thailand delivered a statement expressing its concern for the missing soccer team and the rescue operation currently underway. It announced that the US has deployed a search and rescue team from its Pacific based armed forces to assist in the rescue operation, as requested by the Royal Thai Government. 

 

Furthermore, rescue officials from the Lao PDR have arrived at the site to contribute due to their familiarity with the cave as well as cave rescue experts from the UK. 

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan confirmed that the US has deployed 30 officers along with equipment to penetrate the cave walls. He added that officials have yet to find the missing 13, but continue to pump water out of the cave. 

 

Interior Minister Gen Anupong Paochinda and various heads of the military have taken turns visiting the site to oversee the operation and provide moral support. 

 

Spokesperson to the Prime Minister’s Office, Lt Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd, revealed that Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha has set up a coordination center to receive updates from local officials. The premier also urged media agencies providing coverage of the rescue to be sensitive to the parties involved as well as the country’s image. 

The 12 boys and their soccer coach are believed to have entered the cave last Saturday.

 

-- nnt 2018-06-28

4 hours ago, KiwiKiwi said:

Excellent. Yet another piece of good advice from the likes of Buddha Issara.

 

That'll serve a purpose.

.......Please. Not now!

15 minutes ago, sjbrownderby said:

.......Please. Not now!

Why?  Too complicated? or are you fully immersing yourself in someone else's grief?

 

Good God...

14 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

Is that all they are concerned about? How they look?

 

Probably, yes.

45 minutes ago, webfact said:

as well as the country’s image. 

Sad to say but, of course....................... image is everything.

 

Don't worry about "image" get the kids out! Anything else is secondary.

1 minute ago, lvr181 said:

Sad to say but, of course....................... image is everything.

 

Don't worry about "image" get the kids out! Anything else is secondary.

Yes and no.

Recall the Chile mining incident in 2010.

Those trapper miners were rescued and it was seen as a political victory in Chile for the leader then and also for the international image of Chile. 

Such concerns exist and are real, like it or not.

The leaders here, I reckon, are worried that if turns out badly that it's bad PR for Thailand internationally.

Of course, they should NOT be focused on such matter, but it's naive to think that they aren't. 

21 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Of course, they should NOT be focused on such matter, but it's naive to think that they aren't. 

No argument from me..........my comment was merely that of a pragmatist. 

When the soccer team are rescued,they’re going to have to gently break to them the shock news of Germany’s World Cup exit!.... I fervently hope they get the opportunity to hear of it.

Contact will most assuredly be made now. One way or the other. Too bad for the lack of urgency on the part of Thai Officials. Personally I hope for the best............

US experts say focus on removing floodwater in cave where footballers disappeared

 

Image: Reuters

 

Floodwater level inside the Tham Luang Cave continues to rise on Thursday afternoon and is hindering efforts to rescue 13 footballers believed to have been stranded since last Saturday.

 

Interior Minister General Anupong Paochinda said on Thursday that it was important to pump out the floodwater so that the Royal Thai Navy’s SEALs could move further in their search of the cave system.  

 

The victims are members of a local football club. The 12 teenaged team members entered the cave with their assistant coach in Chiang Rai province last Saturday and have not been seen since.

 

“The experts from the United States believe the best way is to reduce floodwater levels so as to facilitate the divers’ operations,” Anupong said. 

However, he said, will not ignore the recommendation from the Engineering Institute of Thailand that the rescue operations focus on drilling shafts or through the walls between sections of the cave. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30348845

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-06-28

Yeah, sure, remove the water.

Isn't that what they've been trying to do for days now?

So they need a better way to do that, right? (And quick.)

Everything crossed.... hope they can find them all alive can only think how awful it must be  for them . safe hunting to all the rescue teams .  

Dear God. Buddha. Mother Earth. Please bring these kids back to their families alive and safe. 

 

Amen. 

No matter what the outcome.......mark another tragedy for Thailand

Well it is very sad indeed that these boys appear to be trapped and running out of time.  However I have read all the threads and whilst the most likely assumption is that this group did enter the cave,  there is absolutely no factual proof they did so - so could they be trapped in a life threatening situation elsewhere ,  not having any search teams elsewhere because of this assumption they are in the cave ?.

 

Also the Thais should have appealed to foreign assistance earlier the French and Spanish caving experts are streets ahead of most other countries.  As for the "Thai Seals" well I would not rank them as anywhere near the competency levels of any other special forces,  let alone skilled in cave rescue.  

Edited June 28, 20188 yr by Esso49

The blame falls directly on the shoulders of the local authorities for not taking steps to ensure the safety of the public at large. Shame on them for their cavalier attitudes!!!