The WSJ has a great article detailing all the incredible obstacles the rescuers faced, and the planning and huge number of people and resources involved in the whole thing. I was able to read it free on my phone. It’s called Thai cave rescue teetered on brink of disaster. Worth reading.
^That article is linked to in post #298. I was able to open it on my desktop.
I can’t read the WSJ article on my iPad or my iPhone. If someone could summarize the key points, I’d be very appreciative.
Very happy and relieved that those children in Thailand are now safe, thank goodness. Now I am hoping that people will turn their energies to hoping and praying for the thousands of children along the US border waiting to be reunited with their parents.
@FlyMeToTheMoon , it summarized how the whole thing unfolded, from first attempts to find the kids, to bringing huge numbers of personnel to support the operation, to the details of how the rescues were planned, to the actual rescue. It was a global effort, and the Thais and others who volunteered really made it possible. There were women cooking 5000 meals a day. Parking volunteers. Volunteers refilling oxygen tanks. Retailers in the UK driving from store to store to get diving equipment to Thailand asap. I did not realize that the Thai SEALS actually had no cave diving experience until this happened. And the ENORMOUS quantity of water which was pumped out, and theat they had teams on the ground drilling in numerous places to try and help drain water. It’s really all just incredible.
Some people are now being critical because the team were in fact mildly sedated for the escape. Frankly, they might have been dead otherwise, and they all got out alive, so the critics can zip it.
I would imagine the critics have never dived and don’t realize that it can be stressful under much better circumstances!
Any critic can shut their pie hole as far as I’m concerned. It was a tremendous effort, a fatality and the team and coach survived.
If it were my child with his team, I would be supportive and would wait with all the parents for them all to be rescued. Without a lawyer, except afterwards to negotiate the movie rights.
I should have added, that the diver who gave his life has also been repeatedly praised, and that his sacrifice is very much appreciated by all. He is also in the WSJ article.
Post 299 “Interesting article about why this story was so riveting and drew so much attention while other tragedies with more involved don’t.” Here is another take on that subject:
Do people really care more about 12 children trapped in a cave than 2000 children separated from their parents or the thousands of children in refugee camps? I don’t think so. The cave rescue asked nothing of us except to care, hope, pray and to cheer on the work of the rescuers. We could sit back and watch governments, individuals and even corporations come selflessly together because of the value placed on human lives. We viewed the best of humanity and that makes us feel good.
An interesting point from a BBC QandA article - the question was would the coach face charges and the short answer was most likely not and concluded with:
“…Also Thailand typically does not have a ‘blame culture’, where a culprit must be found for any misadventure. There is a more fatalistic acceptance of things going wrong, less public clamour for accountability.
I’m a super-mellow guy with zero phobias and high tolerance for a lot of stress. And yet once on a whim I was trying on a compression shirt and got stuck halfway when taking it off with it wrapped around my head. In those few seconds I actually was on the verge of panic, which honest to god was a first for me and really eye-opening as I would’ve never expected it of myself. We, as humans, really have no control over panic. That’s why it’s called “panic” in the first place!
Taking a pill to ease a life-threatening trip through crazy claustrophobic circumstances that all experts claim could induce panic - heck yes take the pill! I would be the first one in line even though I’m a total (non pot-smoking) duderino.
BTW I just realized I was lying about having zero phobias. Now I have a phobia of tight shirts.
Yes, the medicine worked…that’s what counts. As I understand it, if one of the boys had panicked, it would not only have threatened his life but the lives of the 2 people carrying him and his oxygen.
Yeah, I never expected to panic after jumping into a turbulent ocean, but I did. I remember the other divers were annoyed with me, because my hyperventilating meant I started the dive with less oxygen in my tank so we all had to come up sooner than we would have, otherwise. Oops.
I started getting my scuba license, went through the written material and tests and did the pool piece of it. I just couldn’t get past the fear of going out in open water. Kudos to all of you who can.
When people hear “sedation” they tend to think of heavy sedation, the kind of medication that leaves a person groggy and unable to think clearly. I wouldn’t be surprised if instead they gave the kids an anti anxiety medication like Ativan which would help mellow them out without putting them under.
@MaineLonghorn’s post brings up a good reason to sedate the kids other than the risk of heavy-duty panic. Just being nervous can cause a diver to breathe faster and more shallowly, consuming more air. A kid who’s been mellowed out would consume less, ensuring the group could get to the next tank stop without running out of air.
"I just couldn’t get past the fear of going out in open water. "
Sometimes those fears pop up unexpectedly. I’m normally fine in open water, but when I did the night diving certification, I ended up in a class with 6 tough looking guys (I later joked to my friend that this group looked like they were going to Navy Seal training) and me. In the training there’s a part where we were underwater at night and had to turn our flashlights off and sit underwater in the pitch dark for three minutes. When all the lights went out, I suddenly felt very alone and scared out there. Ended up grabbing and holding the hand of the poor guy on either side of me. Both were unexpectedly kind about it. There must be something to how and why they structure the training like that, though because by the end of the three minutes I felt much better and ended up really liking night diving.
I’m still in awe at the skill of the cave divers who were able to bring these boys out safely. True heroes.
Speaking of panic, very few of us can control our respiration when panic sets in. A while ago, I posted a link to the story of a Finnish dive team, all were very experienced cave divers. During that infamous Plura cave dive, two of them perished because they were overtaken by panic. The rest who lived through were hospitalized because their traumatic experience made them breathe too rapidly, depleting their air supply (technically, depleting CO2 absorbers). Because they were at a significant depth, to avoid nitrogen boil off in the blood, they needed to ascend gradually, but if they did so, they would have ran out of their air supply. So they surfaced too fast and had to be treated for the consequences.
Human contact really helps in stressful situations. I remember when I got Lasik many years ago, during prep the doctor explained there would be an attendant next to me to help keep me calm. In my head I was scoffing, wondering what the heck she could do to keep me calm and I was going to be fine regardless.
Anyway when the laser was firing away and my vision was all cloudy I actually did start feeling pretty anxious. The assistant grabbed both my hands with hers and it really did help settle me down a ton. It was something I would’ve never predicted but was really grateful for it.
One of the many articles I read said that the asst coach would likely be sent to the monestary for 3 months or so as penance and then he and everyone will move forward. Articles all indicated he’s very unlikely to face any criminal charges. He is also being hailed repeatedly as a hero for keeping everyone so calm in the cave and helping the boys conserve their energy.
One of the articles also mentioned divers practicing in swimming pools with school children. Most probably had not swum with a child harnessed to them and wanted to be sure they could do so safely.
1 billion gallons of water was pumped out of the cave and all streams and everything they could find sleeping into the cave was stopped up to help in the rescue. Farmers crops were ruined and are being compensated by the Thai government—the farmers will have to replant.
When I had a planned C section with a spinal block, I began to feel like I was “floating” so I reached for the nearest hand in order to feel “grounded.” The hand happened to be a doctor standing next to me, and he managed to give my hand to my husband who was on the other side of the bed. Holding onto someone can be very comforting.