Here’s another graphic of the situation:
Panic is the main killer here. Would giving each kid a chill pill before extraction help (like some people take before dental work)? I’ve thought about knocking them completely out and treating them like cargo … but there’s the issue with the mask being knocked loose and flooding with water.
Think of this like doing high altitude climbing. The slightest exertion leaves the person exhausted and the ability to think clearly can be impaired.
It’s easy to forget about all the challenges the rescuers are facing.
The divers who first found the boys were a British team who said that their rope ended just as they entered the cave where the boys are sheltered. If their rope had been 15 feet shorter they wouldn’t have discovered them for at least another day or two. Imagine how heavy even a half kilometer of line must be then add at least one supplemental tank and all the other equipment. Carrying in all that equipment (the Thai diver who died staging tanks for the effort was reportedly carrying 3 tanks), fighting current, working in spaces too tight for divers to pass one another. Two divers meeting in a tight passage would be extremely dangerous because it’s much harder to back out of a space than move forward. I know they’re working in teams but it’s dangerous work, as the death of the Thai diver shows. They need to keep their wits about them but they must be exhausted as well.
I don’t actually have a lot of concern about the kids’ ability to swim, other than the fact that unfamiliarity with the water could lead them to panic. If they can stay calm all they really need to do is flutter kick. With a mask on they won’t need to be able to keep their heads above water. I can’t, however, see doing this with a heavily sedated kid. In my mind this would add to the danger.
There was a story on CBS last night about the British team. The guys are not spring chickens: one is in his late 40s and the other in his late 50s. It made me proud of what some middle-aged folks can still accomplish physically and psychologically.
Cave diving is definitely a sport where experience trumps youth!
Re: O2 at 15%. Maybe it was a “lost in translation” thing - O2 levels dropped 15%. That would bring O2 level to about 18.5-19%. High altitude climbers and pro divers are conditioned to function at lower O2 levels, but O2 at 15% would make a rescue operation very difficult. There is another danger that could be lurking in there - rising CO2 levels.
Latest news is that they’re opening oxygen tanks in the cavern to keep the boys from suffocating.
With more rain forecast for the weekend it’s looking like they my have no choice but to evacuate them.
Wow. Apparently things are looking really bleak now.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/world/asia/thai-cave-rescue-divers.html
And as I suspected, rising CO2 levels are a huge threat.
https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/07/06/health/thai-soccer-team-oxygen-bn/index.html
I was wondering about this. Also, some of the kids seem to be pretty small, maybe strapping them to the divers would be feasible as long as they didn’t panic. What a horror.
I am an excellent swimmer (competed up through my first two years in college), but am also hideously claustrophobic. The thought of what these boys might need to do to get out of that cave is very difficult for me to read. All I can do is pray for them and their families.
I said I didn’t want to follow this, yet here I am. I’m sure if the choice is between doing nothing and suffocating to death, or trying something tremendously risky, I’d choose trying. That coach must be feeling tremendous guilt.
With heavy rain in the forecast, there is increased pressure to make a decision. This is gut wrenching!
“That coach must be feeling tremendous guilt.”
Definitely. Of course the single focus right now has to be on rescue. After the rescue, though, I hope there is more information about what exactly happened in the first few days when the team was lost but before the rising water flooded the passages. It’s understandable that after they got lost, flooding cut off their ability to exit, but I’d be interested to know what led them to their route to begin with. From reading the description of why the exit dive is so difficult, there is at least one long section that is very, very narrow - just a little over 2’ x 2’. Even when there wasn’t any water in the caves when the team was first entering the tunnels, I wonder why and how they went through that section to begin with. Even dry, those passages had to be tight, dark and claustrophobic, requiring wriggling on their stomach through tunnels. Seems an odd choice for a casual exploration and something that might even be tough to get a lot of the kids to do. I’m sure there’s a lot more to the story there.
My boys would have loved that crawl through the tunnel - when dry. It would have been a fun activity after the game. I don’t find that surprising at all. Boys are boys worldwide.
I’m thankful mine would also be able to scuba out if their lives depended upon it. I wish it were the same for those kids.
I don’t think they started out at the back of the tunnel. I think they fled farther into the cave as the water level rose.
My understanding is that the coach took the boys on what was to be a “challenge exercise.” While it was not disclosed ahead of time what that exercise would be, I assume now that exploring the cave was part of it. Why they chose to go beyond the posted no entry and danger signs is unknown. The coach sent out an apology letter to the parents with the divers. The parents have been quite gracious saying they do not blame him for the situation.
One article I read said in the comimunities surrounding the caves parents forbid the children to enter them because of how dangerous they can be, especially during certain parts of the year. So in that sense the caves were probably sort of a forbidden but enticing attraction to those young boys. Easy to understand why they would willingly explore with their coach and teammates.
They don’t blame him now because their boys are still alive. That may change if this doesn’t end well for some of the boys. 
Apparently a 5+ hour effort. I hope they don’t have to resort to this, but it isn’t looking good all around.
@sylvan8798
I don’t think there is room to strap the kids on to the divers. The divers have to remove their own tanks in order to fit through the small tunnels.
‘The boys and their 25-year-old coach are currently huddled together in a small chamber four kilometers (2.5 miles) inside of the cave network, with a limited supply of oxygen.
To reach them, expert divers must carefully traverse jagged passageways, occasionally narrowing to the width of a person, forcing divers to remove their breathing tanks from their backs and enter like a pencil, taking extra care not to snag their wetsuit. The tunnels are pitch black. The water is muddy and cold. The whole journey can take up to six hours.’
There’s also a longish section where they have to go up a muddy 45% incline.