All thirteen trapped cavers rescued alive!
Miracles happen: Cave divers today successfully rescued the last four boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in Thailand.
All 12 members of a Thai youth football team and their coach have been brought safely out of the cave in northern Thailand. The final five members rescued join eight team members taken to hospital on Sunday and Monday and said to be doing well. Each person was pulled through the cave by expert divers. The last Navy Seals – three divers and a doctor – are out of the cave, the rescue chief says.
As I said, this is a miracle. The press is likely going to focus on the kids and their coach, but the real heroes are the cave divers who risked their lives, with one man dying, to save these children.
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There was a mention in a radio news report today that some of the boys have respiratory infections. Are fungal pathogens a hazard for cavers in very wet systems?
danae: They can be, but not usually. The situation here is unusual, as the boys were trapped in bad circumstances, with low oxygen for a very long time. This could make them less resistant, while exposing them longer.
In Belize we were never underground for more than six hours. A push cave trip can be as long as three days, using a base camp, but once again, you are moving and have supplies.
I hope the publicity this incident received deters a few of the world’s hare-brained adventurers from attempting similar escapades underground, and that the boys and their coach come to fully realize the human price paid in execution of this improbable and heroic rescue.