Rescuers about to reach 'Pattaya Beach' chamber of Tham Luang Cave

[NCC1701A]

wow 17 minutes has gone by and no one has said anything about the tank photo.

 

we are making progress.

[sweatalot]

56 minutes ago, IamNoone88 said:

The 2010 Copiapó mining accident began as a cave-in on 5 August 2010 at the San José copper-gold mine in the Atacama Desert near Copiapó, Chile. The accident left 33 men trapped 700 meters (2,300 ft) below ground who survived underground for a record 69 days.^[1][2] All 33 men were rescued and brought to the surface on 13 October 2010 over a period of almost 24 hours. After the last trapped miner was winched to the surface, the rescue workers still underground held up a sign before the camera stating “Misión cumplida Chile” (English: “Mission accomplished Chile”) to the estimated more than 1 billion people watching the rescue on live television around the world.^[3]

 

^{I hope these kids make it .......}

thank you for reminding. This raised my spirits definitely . Would be good if  somebody would tell the parents.

[mike324]

8 minutes ago, simon43 said:

The recent post above calling for diving volunteers really confuses me because of the sketch map.  It shows that the tunnel is not 100% underwater, but has air pockets along its narrow length, followed by a large cavern at chamber #3.

 

I can understand that the boys might have been forced to retreat along this narrow tunnel as water levels rose.  But if that was the case, why did they then not camp out in chamber #3?  Surely it would have been psychologically very disturbing to leave that large open (and dry) cavern to re-enter a narrow tunnel which they knew was leading them still further away from the cave entrance?

 

Something seems really strange about all these events.  I hope that my feelings are wrong and that the boys are soon found alive.

if the water was rising, nobody would have known chamber 3 is safe and is the highest spot, so it made sense they kept on going deeper inside. Or perhaps the coach knew about "pattaya beach" hence continue on forward. 

[Jonmarleesco]

3 hours ago, KiwiKiwi said:

I'm not sure 500 metres away can really be called 'about to reach'.

It can when compared to 2 - 3 kilometres.

[KiwiKiwi]

1 minute ago, Jonmarleesco said:

It can when compared to 2 - 3 kilometres.

 

Sure. OK. Have it your way...

[whaleboneman]

59 minutes ago, toolpush said:

I highly doubt they are oxygen tanks. More likely compressed air.

better late than never eh Alfred.

[brucec64]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I only see air tanks.

pedantic (comparative more pedantic, superlative most pedantic)

1. Like a pedant, overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning.
2. Being showy of one’s knowledge, often in a boring manner.
3. Being finicky or fastidious, especially with language.

[webfact]

Backhoe transported to Luang cave as water pumping continues

 

 

CHIANG RAI, 2nd July 2018 (NNT) – Rescue officials have lowered a backhoe onto the exterior of Luang cave while also increasing drainage of water inside the cave using three pumps, and targeting a total five. 

In the ongoing effort to locate and rescue 13 members of Moo Pa Academy youth football team from Luang cave in Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province, rescue officials have used a MI17 V-5 helicopter from Army Aviation Center 41 in Lopburi to transport a 2.2 ton backhoe to a point above the cave in preparation to drill a new access channel into the interior. The backhoe is being used to clear away forest and make way for larger digging equipment. 

Director of Lopburi Ground Water Resource Office 1 Sakchalad Sriwichan, today explained his office and private operators are transporting high powered water pumps from Bangkok and Chai Pattana Foundation to the entrance of Luang cave. They have drilled three new ground water wells to pump more water out of the cave. Each well is 30-50 meters deep and the machinery installed is able to pump 400 cubic meters of water out each hour. 

Water in the cave has receded significantly since the start of the operation but officials have noted water is still seeping into the cavern due to its porous rock, making a search for alternative entrance ways crucial. Water is also being drained out of nearby caves to provide outlets for Luang cave’s flooding. Police and other authorities are working together to find further options to locate and rescue the missing football team of local boys and their coach.

 

-- nnt 2018-07-02

[Megasin1]

The latest Thai news says they are  1.3km from Pattaya Beach, which is correct ? However they now have the hardest stretch to negotiate and it has taken an awful long time to get this far. I certainly hope that whatever the distance they start to get some luck and that the boys are actually there when they get there.

[mike324]

11 minutes ago, sweatalot said:

thank you for reminding. This raised my spirits definitely . Would be good if  somebody would tell the parents.

In regards to the mining incident, if I remember correctly they were able to send down food supplies while they dug a hole big enough to send down a capsule to pull them up one by one. But the men had only 2-3 days of food supplier which they were able to ration to last for weeks before they were located.

 

I doubt the boys had any food when they went in, maybe just a snack or two. So it seems like they are at their limits now.

Edited July 2, 2018 by mike324

[whaleboneman]

33 minutes ago, Catoni said:

I doubt very much that they are “oxygen tanks”.  Pure oxygen is extremely flammable and will go up with a tiny spark. Highly dangerous. 

    They’re highly likely to be air tanks. Compressed air like we use in SCUBA diving. 

Chemistry 101: Oxygen is not flammable.

[zeamonkey]

unbelieveable that a SEAL team is not diving on rebreathers in a cave.....

[NCC1701A]

i wonder how many flashlights the group had? (i wonder if the parents or friends or family know) the coach must of had a cellphone and at least one flashlight, most likely a cheap LED type, but very power efficient. then maybe one flashlight for every two kids. I say this because as the kids would be spread out walking in a line at some points and would need their own lights. so maybe 6 lights in total. if they only use one light at a time and switch off to total darkness for a hour or so to conserve power they could have light for days. 

 

the coach most likely has a cheap phone, but if he has a phone with "ultra power saving mode" like my Samsung then they would have a "night light" what would last for days. 

 

once your eyes adjust to total darkness you only need a very small amount of light to see.

 

from a psychological point of view this would be very helpful for the group.

Edited July 2, 2018 by NCC1701A

[greenchair]

Are they there yet. 

<deleted> fleck I'm going to have a heart attack with the suspense. 

[eeworldwide]

Are they there yet. 
fleck I'm going to have a heart attack with the suspense. 

Im with you!
Id give it until 5 or 6 pm....


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[webfact]

Rescuers striving to find missing youths before rain returns on July 4th-7th

 

FILE photo

 

BANGKOK, 2nd July 2018, (NNT) - Rescuers searching for the 12 missing boys and their football coach believed stranded deep inside Tham Luang cave in Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province are racing against time, as the local weather bureau expects that precipitation will return on July 4th - 7th. 

According to the Meteorological Department, the Southwestern monsoon dominating the Andaman Sea will weaken on July 2nd and 3rd, resulting in less rain in all regions of Thailand. Nevertheless, about 40% of the North is facing more rain. 

Renewed rainfall is expected throughout the Kingdom during the period July 4th - 7th, as the monsoon is likely to intensify. About 40%-60% of the North could experience thundershowers. 

The Phrapiroon Tropical Storm currently dominating the Pacific Ocean is moving towards Japan over the next couple of days and is unlikely to have any effect on Thailand 

Efforts by local Navy Seal units, various disaster relief agencies consisting of local and foreign volunteers continue to search for the missing football team believed stranded deep inside Tham Luang cave in Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province. Recently the Provincial Electricity Authority has been able to provide lighting inside the cave. 

Although the main plan is to rely on divers making direct contact with the missing individuals inside the cave, other officials have been dispatched to find alternative entrances to the cave both on land and from the air. Late reports say the teams have discovered that a cliff “Pha Mee” on the right wing of the cave may have a chute connected to the inside of the cave. Rescuers are now exploring the location. 

Meanwhile, the drilling team has found two probable spots outside Tham Luang cave that could lead directly to the location of the missing 13 inside. The group has installed a cross sectional scanner to determine the optimal drilling mark before beginning an excavation. 

Officials have now slowed the speed of draining the Tham Luang cave after the water level inside reached a satisfactory level. Patrol units have also constructed a weir to temporarily redirect the water flow away from the cave. 

Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Grisada Boonrach has instructed officials in Chiang Rai to provide assistance to the Chiang Rai Provincial Agriculture and Cooperatives Office to create an understanding with farmers affected by the water being drained from the cave. He said the compensation measures wold later be made known.

 

-- nnt 2018-07-02

[KKr]

46 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

from Thai Navy seals last night at midnight:

 

Original Post

RTN S.E.A.L. #Thamluang urgently needs STRONG diving volunteers!!!!! Must be instructor levels or above

Before volunteering, carefully read the requirements and job descriptions detailed below. Competency is compulsory in this operation.

What you need to do: transport supplies of scuba tanks, food, drinking water, first aid kit, etc. from the cave entrance to help set up the new S.E.AL. Rescue Base in Chamber No. 3, approximately 3km from the entrance.

You must be able to: know how to breathe through a regulator and pull yourself using the guide rope against cold (~ 20C) and strong current, in low visibility without panicking. You don't need to be a certified cave diver, but you must be able to hike the steep slope with full gear and the said supplies (20-30 kg) for a few hundred meters.

You must bring your own diving equipment (fins not necessary) including an underwater torch with a burn time of at least 5 hours, and you should also bring your own helmet.

The passage is approximately 2-3 km long and you will be submerged for a distance of 10-15m at each flooded point. In addition, there is one very narrow channel where you will have to dismount your gear to continue. The last hike is up a 45 degrees slope that is slippery and muddy (see diagram).

If you think you are qualified, and will be not be a burden to the rescue operation, kindly contact K.Top 0875027414

The dive team at Tham Luang reserve the rights to choose applicants. You must be ready to mobilise ASAP and there is no travel and accommodation budget, but the locals are very kind and may provide free food and beverages!

 

I am sorry that, even if considering myself fit enough, with PADI Rescue I do not qualify.

[jossthaifarang]

56 minutes ago, webfact said:

Major source of floodwater to cave found – and diverted to farmland

By The Nation

 

A team of 100 forestry officials, irrigation officials and local resident volunteers on Monday morning found a major source feeding floodwater into the Tham Luang cave where the 12 young footballers and their coach assistant have been trapped since June 23.

 

The water has already been diverted onto nearby farmland after the group’s days-long search for major sources of water entering the cave paid off, said Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation deputy director-general Chongkhlai Voraphongston on Monday. Chongkhlai and other department officials participated in the task.

 

The move could help reduce the amount of water pouring into the cave by 60 per cent, he said,

Local farmers and residents had previously agreed to water being diverted to their lands to aid in the search. But the amount of water diverted from this source will not cause flooding of farms, said Chongkhlai.

 

The group will continue to search for additional, though smaller water sources that feed into the cave and divert them away, Chongkhlai said.

 

Major rainstorms are expected to return to the area on Wednesday.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30349121

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-07-02

Fantastic news, surly that will be a big help when It does start to rain again!!

[Rc2702]

This thread on the continuing cave efforts should be closed for comments and have updates only. 

[eeworldwide]

This thread on the continuing cave efforts should be closed for comments and have updates only. 

Why?


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[sanemax]

45 minutes ago, simon43 said:

The recent post above calling for diving volunteers really confuses me because of the sketch map.  It shows that the tunnel is not 100% underwater, but has air pockets along its narrow length, followed by a large cavern at chamber #3.

 

I can understand that the boys might have been forced to retreat along this narrow tunnel as water levels rose.  But if that was the case, why did they then not camp out in chamber #3?  Surely it would have been psychologically very disturbing to leave that large open (and dry) cavern to re-enter a narrow tunnel which they knew was leading them still further away from the cave entrance?

 

Something seems really strange about all these events.  I hope that my feelings are wrong and that the boys are soon found alive.

The boys may have already arrived at Pattaya beach or gone even further before the flooding

[greenchair]

6 minutes ago, eeworldwide said:

Im with you!
Id give it until 5 or 6 pm....


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The clouds are rolling in here in bkk. 

If the rain bursts, all that work for drainage has to start again. 

The day is almost done. 

I have the a bad feeling they are not there. 

 

[webfact]

Thai navy divers widening passage on 9th day of search for boys in cave

By Panu Wongcha-um

 

A diver walks in Tham Luang cave complex, as an ongoing search for members of an under-16 soccer team and their coach continues, in the northern province of Chiang Rai, Thailand, July 1, 2018. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

 

CHIANG RAI, Thailand (Reuters) - Rescuers in Thailand scrabbled to clear a constricted passageway for divers deep inside a flooded cave complex on Monday as the search for 12 boys and their soccer coach entered a ninth day.

 

The divers from a Thai navy SEAL unit were within 500 metres of a chamber containing an elevated rock mound, nicknamed "Pattaya Beach" by cavers, which could have provided the boys with a refuge when heavy rains flooded the cave, blocking the way out.

 

Progress has been slowed as divers need to widen parts of a narrow 100 metre stretch that they were unable to pass through sharp bends without their air cylinders becoming jammed.

 

"This is today’s aim is to widen this hole,” Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osatanakorn told reporters on Monday.

"As of now we have not yet reached Pattaya Beach," he said.

 

The boys, aged between 11 and 16, and their 25-year-old coach disappeared on June 23 during an outing to the Tham Luang cave, which runs for 10 kilometres (6 miles) beneath the mountains in northern Chiang Rai province.

Aside from belongings left at the mouth of the cave and handprints on the walls, no trace of them has been found since.

 

National news bulletins have been dominated by updates from the mammoth search involving more than 1,000 personnel, including rescue teams from the United States, Britain, Japan and elsewhere.

 

Doctors say the boys could survive for days without food, but much would depend on whether they found water clean enough to drink.

 

The heavy seasonal rains hampered the search operation, with divers groping their way along the cave walls, barely able to see in the muddy water, but the pumps had helped to bring down water levels in recent days.

 

Narongsak said that an operations centre has been set up in the third chamber, about 1.7 kilometres (a mile) from entrance to the cave.

 

“Yesterday we carried in 200 air cylinders. Today we aim to have 600 air cylinders in the cave, so the team can operate and stay in the cave without coming out,” he said.

 

Once more personnel are in place, a search will also be made of the right turn at the T-junction, he added.

 

As part of the rescue effort, search parties have been lowered down shafts on the mountainside, but it was unclear what progress they had made, or exactly where they were in relation to the "Pattaya Beach" chamber.

 

At Mae Sai Prasitsart school, where six of the missing boys studied, special prayers were held for the junior soccer team during the morning assembly on Monday.

 

"I am really worried, but I am hopeful because my friend is strong," Thanakorn Ingsilapakul, 15, told Reuters.

 

(Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Chayut Setboonsarng in BANGKOK; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-07-02

[cracker1]

Has there been any information on how the boys will be extracted from the cave, bearing in mind the many days it has taken the Navy experts to get in through the dirty water ?

[steve73]

2 minutes ago, Rc2702 said:

This thread on the continuing cave efforts should be closed for comments and have updates only. 

Fully agree - there should be one thread for news and updates - but no comments, and a totally separate thread just for relevant comments.  It would be much easier for the mods to keep just one thread free of inane, bickering, or off-topic posts.  Perhaps allow another totally separate thread for these...

[Jingthing]

Nah. This is a discussion forum. Things are discussed here. 

Also, don't worry, if/when there is any significant news, it'll be broadcast around the world instantly. 

Edited July 2, 2018 by Jingthing

[brucec64]

2 minutes ago, cracker1 said:

Has there been any information on how the boys will be extracted from the cave, bearing in mind the many days it has taken the Navy experts to get in through the dirty water ?

If they find the boys, they can provide food and medical supplies on site immediately to solve the most pressing danger, and work out an extraction plan.

[KKr]

Just now, cracker1 said:

Has there been any information on how the boys will be extracted from the cave, bearing in mind the many days it has taken the Navy experts to get in through the dirty water ?

the only thing I have seen is to recuperate in-situ before extracting. 
However, if given a full face mask with two-way sound, and a diver in front and behind, one should in theory be able to extract even if unconscious.

[brucec64]

3 minutes ago, steve73 said:

Fully agree - there should be one thread for news and updates - but no comments, and a totally separate thread just for relevant comments.  It would be much easier for the mods to keep just one thread free of inane, bickering, or off-topic posts.  Perhaps allow another totally separate thread for these...



Or you can visit one of the many thousands of news sites providing up to the minute coverage that is not a discussion forum. 

[maxcorrigan]

Just read on the Chang Mai news that updates on this tragedy that a couple of cars belonging to people working on the rescue have been broken into and personal stuff stolen, just when you think some people can't sink much lower along comes these pilfering dregs of society!