There are few more difficult environments for rescue efforts than flooded caves. Divers must navigate through darkness and kicked-up silt that can reduce visibility almost to nothing even with underwater lights, and progress is painstakingly slow .
The challenges have been starkly underlined as Navy Seal divers and other rescuers re-entered a partly flooded cave in northern Thailand on Tuesday to search for 12 boys and their football coach believed to have been trapped there for three days.
As helicopters hovered overhead, large crowds amassed around the cave’s muddy entrance on Tuesday, including distraught parents in plastic raincoats who prayed for the team’s safe return.
“I asked for all God’s wishes, but I’m certain in my heart that they will survive. They have been inside the cave before,” said the father of one of the boys.
Divers have been trying to move through the chambers of the Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex, in Chiang Rai province, but the flooding has hindered their progress. Officials have also been seeking alternative ways in, deploying helicopters and search parties on foot to look for cave openings.
There have been suggestions from some Thai rescuers that they could teach the trapped boys basic scuba techniques to get them out, but Martyn Farr, a celebrated cave diver and author of The Darkness Beckons, cautioned against it.
Describing his involvement in the rescue of two non-diving cavers in Wales around six years ago, he said: “I was dispatched through the flooded passage and found the two cavers. My advice was to leave them there until the waters receded because that is the safest option for the non diver: treat them as being trapped and bring food and what they need to them.
“Because of the bad weather forecast, the decision was made to lead them out. It was uneventful because it was only a 5-6 metre long passage and only 2 metres deep, but you can drown in a swimming pool.”
Farr emphasised the difference between entering cave systems in optimal conditions and after heavy rain, when there is heavy water flow as well as visibility problems.
“If there has been heavy rain it is going to be turbid and very disorienting. In narrow tunnels like you find in the UK it is easier to navigate but if this was a big walking passage it will be difficult. It could be meandering with alcoves and high ceilings which means that navigating through it could be painfully slow.”
The Thai boys, aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach are believed to have entered the cave late on Saturday afternoon. The search began after a mother reported that her son had not returned home from football practice that day.
After days of searching, officials said on Tuesday they had found a previously unknown opening in the cave through which they would attempt to airlift rescuers and food inside.
“If we find [the boys], the first thing is to provide first aid and food before thinking of how to bring them back up,” said the interior minister, Gen Anupong Paochinda. “We will not stop, we will work 24 hours. We’re racing against time and we want them to be safe.”
The cave complex extends for several miles and has wide chambers and narrow passageways with rocky outcrops and changes in elevation. Officials have said they hope the missing group found a safe space away from the floods. In previous incidents, tourists trapped in the cave by rising waters have been rescued after the water receded a few days later.
At a prayer session on Monday evening, some of the relatives walked into the cave’s entrance. One woman called out: “My son, come on out! I am waiting for you here!”
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