LIVE STREAM - Press conference of boys rescued from Tham Luang cave

[Jonathan Fairfield]

 

 

 

The group of children rescued from a cave in Thailand hold a press conference in Chiang Rai Province on Wednesday, July 18.

 

The 12 boys and their 25-year-old coach entered the cave as part of an excursion but became trapped after a sudden, continuous downpour of rain flooded the underground area.

 

They were found alive after a 10-day operation carried out by Thai forces and international rescue teams, and were later rescued in a daring operation. "

[wirat69]

Thanks. Great news. Appreciate that you shared with us.

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, wirat69 said:

Thanks. Great news. Appreciate that you shared with us.

Very nicely structured program, well moderated by veteran Khun Sootichai Yoong. Well done indeed

[Eligius]

It's great to see these youngsters looking so well again. They seem emotionally stable too, which is wonderful. The Assistant Coach, Khun Ek, comes across as very articulate and with a strong sense of responsibility.

 

I wonder, however, how all that misinformation we were given started, namely that virtually none of the boys could swim (whereas here the Assistant Coach indicates that many of them could swim) and that the Assistant Coach gave all his food rations to the others inside the cave (whereas here Khun Ek says that they did not have any food with them at all in the cave). 

 

We see from this how easily inaccurate reports spread and take on a life of their own.

 

Anyway, it's fabulous to see these very brave youngsters bearing up so very well. I cannot imagine the horror of being trapped inside that cave. The thought alone is enough to terrify me!

 

 

[smo]

1 hour ago, Eligius said:

I wonder, however, how all that misinformation we were given started, namely that virtually none of the boys could swim (whereas here the Assistant Coach indicates that many of them could swim) and that the Assistant Coach gave all his food rations to the others inside the cave (whereas here Khun Ek says that they did not have any food with them at all in the cave). 

 

We see from this how easily inaccurate reports spread and take on a life of their own.

 

"Inaccurate"? I would go one step further and say "manufactured."

Yes, the kids could swim after all - ALL of them (in coach's own words, "the smaller ones who are not good swimmers could always hold on to the stronger ones...".) As a matter of fact, he takes the boys after weekend football practice to go swimming "all the time!" That's more like it, because a) they are outdoorsy, sporty (I refrain from saying "athlete") type and b ) I didn't think they would have gone in that far if they were afraid of water... (and they kept going further in because the water had not gotten that deep.) When the moderator said  "from what we heard, none of you could swim?" coach replied "that's not true." - this snippet was left out by the interpreter (wonder why.) Also it seemed (the boys) had NOT been to Tham Luang before... I'm listening to a thai language only clip/without the interp voiceover - meaning the audio is much cleaner, unfortunately my Thai is not up to par - of the coach answering the main question of how the whole thing got started.

 

There you have it, how much (real) news we get after they're gone through the spin cycle, and to whom/for what purpose does that serve? Even now can we be sure what parts of the account given here by the main actors have not been "vetted" by the PR machine? I don't want to say more because I received a "perpetual" warning from mods after saying something of criticizing nature regarding the kind of news headlines we find posted here (implicitly through TVF channel.)

[Eligius]

6 hours ago, smo said:

"Inaccurate"? I would go one step further and say "manufactured."

Yes, the kids could swim after all - ALL of them (in coach's own words, "the smaller ones who are not good swimmers could always hold on to the stronger ones...".) As a matter of fact, he takes the boys after weekend football practice to go swimming "all the time!" That's more like it, because a) they are outdoorsy, sporty (I refrain from saying "athlete") type and b ) I didn't think they would have gone in that far if they were afraid of water... (and they kept going further in because the water had not gotten that deep.) When the moderator said  "from what we heard, none of you could swim?" coach replied "that's not true." - this snippet was left out by the interpreter (wonder why.) Also it seemed (the boys) had NOT been to Tham Luang before... I'm listening to a thai language only clip/without the interp voiceover - meaning the audio is much cleaner, unfortunately my Thai is not up to par - of the coach answering the main question of how the whole thing got started.

 

There you have it, how much (real) news we get after they're gone through the spin cycle, and to whom/for what purpose does that serve? Even now can we be sure what parts of the account given here by the main actors have not been "vetted" by the PR machine? I don't want to say more because I received a "perpetual" warning from mods after saying something of criticizing nature regarding the kind of news headlines we find posted here (implicitly through TVF channel.)

What you say is very interesting and revealing. I fear, this being Thailand and all ( we know how very honest the Authorities here are) - that we may not easily learn the real truth or the full truth of what happened in those caves.

 

Anyhow, thank God that all the team are safe and in surprisingly good spirits (no sign of emotional trauma, from what I could see from the boys' facial expressions, mode of speaking, etc. - not that facial expressions and suchlike are solely enough to judge by, of course). The thing everyone was worried about was: would the brave team make it out of the cave all in one piece, hale and hearty - and they have. 

[tomta]

33 minutes ago, Eligius said:

I fear, this being Thailand and all ( we know how very honest the Authorities here are) - that we may not easily learn the real truth or the full truth

Of anything and everything

[anon537687643]

Venturing 2 Kms in to a cave ! And the adulation is nauseating ! As I have explained to folk not familiar with how Thailand works,the hype over this continues, whereas 47 Non Thais died at sea because of neglect and incompetence and Thai media and authorities would rather it is forgotten about!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

 

[aircooledflat4]

One other thing that may have got lost in translation... digging a hole 5 metres. Plausible?

 

Also the coach (?) describing the ordeal in horrific detail -  the audience was riveted,... you could tell he had so much more to say... but they cut to the seal and something about him being naked. I thought oh no, please don’t let it degenerate into  a pantomime.

 

Apart from that quite well done overall. The boys kicking around a football at the start was a brilliant touch.

[balo]

The coach is a hero too , you can see he is a very sensible young man who really cares about the boys, good job !