PTT sends 3 teams, drones and robot to search cave

By The Nation

 

 

Officials from PTT Exploration and Production Public Co Ltd late Thursday morning brought three drones to join the search for 12 children and their assistant football coach, who have been trapped for days in a flooded cave in Chiang Rai.

 

The firm’s expert, Thana Saranvetchapan, said the three unmanned aerial vehicles (two large-sized and one small-sized), were each equipped with a 30x optical zoom camera and a heat-detecting device. They are able to take and process aerial photographs and then incorporate the shots into a 3-D map.

 

The first drone flights taken around noon on Thursday were to survey the two-kilometre radius “Zone A” of the mountain above the cave. Information obtained from the flights will be reported to the search and rescue team to they could better plan their cave-wall drilling, said Thana.

 

The drones are normally used to explore for petroleum.

 

The company has also prepared two other teams – in addition to the drone team – to aid in the operation.

 

One team will oversee a robot equipped with a sonar scanner capable of producing an underwater map, which would be useful to help the human divers working in muddy water, Thana said.

 

The other team will help with the floodwater drainage, he said. The soft pipes now used to pump out water are not up to the job and so the firm has provided a hard pipe of a radius exceeding 200mm to aid in the drainage at the cave entrance.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30348832

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-06-28

It's a bit late for all that I think. 

Is there anyone left elsewhere in Thailand !

11 minutes ago, greenchair said:

It's a bit late for all that I think. 

Better late than never.

This rescue operation could go on for weeks. 3D maps, underwater maps and better drainage equipment could make a huge difference.

Drilling to start Thursday night at cave in search for missing footballers

By The Nation

 

Drilling equipment on Thursday afternoon reached the Tham Luang Cave, where 12 teenage football players and their assistant coach were last seen on Saturday, in preparations for another effort to reach the victims believed to have been stranded inside by flash floods.
 

“We are now on standby as we wait for the exact spot for the drilling mission,” said Asst Professor Suttisak Soralump, an engineering lecturer at Kasetsart University.

 

He said equipment prepared was of a “percussion drilling” type. In percussion drilling, a heavy cutting or hammering bit is attached to a rope or cable and then repeatedly lowered to open up a hole. 

 

“We plan to start drilling from a horizontal angle first to minimise the risks of crumbling,” said Suttisak. “The hole will be between four and five inches wide,” he said. “Then, we will send a camera through the hole to check what is inside the target section,” he said. 

 

Suttisak expected the drilling operation to start Thursday evening. 

 

PTT Exploration and Production were using high-quality drones to survey the target areas as of press time. 

 

“If the drilling does not meet obstacles, it is possible to drill a distance of 100 metres within one day,” Suttisak said. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30348843

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-06-28