Youths trapped in Thai cave not ready to dive out, governor says

Rescue teams thrashed through dense forest hundreds of metres above a cave complex on Friday, searching for another way to extract 12 boys and their soccer coach, who are not yet ready to make the risky dive out.

Their work above the Tham Luang cave near Thailand'snorthern border with Myanmar took on added urgency as forecastsfor rain threatened a plan to bring the boys back throughcramped, waterlogged passageways to the cave entrance.

Trying to rescue the team, who have been trapped deep in the cave complexsince June 23, has proven to be deeply complicated.

Gov.Narongsak Osottanakortold reporters late Friday night that there are concerns about both weather and oxygen levels, but that they wantto minimize risk as much as possible. But the boys, he said, are not yet ready to make the dive out.

Rescue efforts since British divers found the team on Mondayhave focused on draining the flooded cave and teaching the boys, some of whom are reported to be weak swimmers,to attempt dives that would challenge expertcavers.

Situation is serious

Helicoptersbuzzed overhead Fridaybefore flying to the denseblanket of green hills above the cave to help look for another extraction route.

Earlier in the dayThanesWeerasiri, president of the Engineering Institute of Thailand, told Reuters that "we want to find the way down. I believe we are close."

The situation is serious, as concerns about potential rain and dwindling oxygen levels mount.

"We can no longer wait for all conditions [to be ready]because circumstances are pressuring us,"Rear Adm. Arpakorn Yookongkaew, theThai SEAL commander,told a news conference earlier in the day.

"We originally thought the boys can stay safe inside the cave for quite some time, but circumstances have changed. We have limited amount of time."

Inserting oxygen line

Oxygen levels are decreasing because of the amount of workers inside the cave. Workers were trying to run an oxygen line into the chambers in addition to the scuba tanksused by divers, Osatanakornsaid late Thursday.

A senior army commander, Maj. Gen. Chalongchai Chaiyakam, said the most pressing mission is the oxygen line. It is tied to a telephone line to provide a channel of communication for the kids, who are stuck deep in the complex but are being looked after by four SEALs, including a medic.

The death of Saman Gunan, former petty officer first class, early Friday morning during an underwater swim to drop extra oxygen tanks in thepartly flooded cavestruck a particularly deep chord with Thais, because he was a volunteer on a humanitarian mission that has riveted the nation.

Thanes's engineers are working with the army to explore anarea they believe to be the back end of the cave, chiselling away fragile limestone rocks that he said could be just hundredsof metres from where the boys are trapped.

"Originally we were exploring it as a way to bring suppliesto the children from the back end of the cave, but now it couldbecome more," said Thanes.

Thai rescuer dies while placing oxygen tanks in cave

6 years ago

Duration 1:03

Former Navy SEAL was putting tanks along potential escape route for trapped children

Chalongchai Chaiyakum, a senior Thai army officer, said thatone team travelled some 300 metres down a shaft on the hill onThursday until they reached a dead end.

He said that up to 200 people are exploring the hill to tryto find a workable shaft.

The muddy bank where the boys are stranded is some four kilometresfrom the front entrance of the cave, with sections of thefinal 1.7-kilometrestretch completely underwater.

Drilling down raises concerns that parts of the cave couldcollapse on the boys. Efforts to widen diving channelshave raised similar fears about blocking narrow passageways andhemming the team in.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk tweeted on Friday thatengineers from his firms SpaceX and the Boring Company wereheading to Thailand to see if they could assist the rescue.

The firms have "advance ground penetrating radar" that is"pretty good at digging holes" or technology that could "createan air tunnel underwater" for the children to traverse, Musksaid earlier.

The Thai government said Musk's team could help the rescueoperation with location tracking, water pumping or batterypower.

Relatives of the boys, some of whom have camped at the sitesince the team became trapped, say all they want is the safest exit for theirchildren.

"I'm worried he has never dived," said SomboonKaewwongwan, the father of a 16-year-old boy trapped in thecave.