Disaster Spelunking with Children: a Thai recipe for disaster

https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/07/asia/thai-cave-spirits-intl/index.html
https://archive.fo/57bES



tl;dr: a bunch of preteen children go diving in a cave in Thailand and are stuck. From what I've been told, they need to learn how to scuba dive and independently remove themselves from the network.

So we're doing this PRICE IS RIGHT style. Bet on how many children you think will survive! The adult is not counted, no one cares about him.

Latest: Rescue mission is underway.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/l...b0cb7e6f6c2fd7#block-5b419526e4b0cb7e6f6c2fd7
http://archive.is/hSeqL

• Thai authorities have confirmed that a rescue operation is under way.
• At 10am local time they sent 18 divers into the cave to bring out the boys – including 13 international divers and five Thai navy Seals. The former governor in charge of the rescue operation called the international divers “all-stars” and the Thai divers “five of our best”.
• Water levels have dropped significantly since Saturday, and officials say that they are now at “peak readiness”.
• Officials would not confirm if the boys would have to dive out of the caves, but said that water levels had dropped enough that much of the cave network was walkable.
• It might take up to two days for all the boys and their coach to come out. The boys will be brought out one by one.
• Officials said that they might stop and start the operation “depending on weather”.
• The first rescued boys could come at 9pm local time on Sunday.
• The children are said to be in high spirits and “ready to go”. The families have been informed about the plan and have also agreed.
• Earlier today all media and non-rescue personnel were cleared from the cave site area.
• The coordinator of the rescue efforts said rescuers were still in a “war with water and time” as monsoon rainclouds loomed over the north of the country early on Sunday.
• The 12 boys and their football coach have been trapped inside the cave for 15 days now, after they ventured into the caves on 23 June and got trapped by rising waters.
• They were discovered by British divers on Monday night after a nine-day round-the-clock search involving teams from all over the world.

---

Some notes:
- an thai ex-navy seal died putting up breathing stations underwater (or something)
- it's not just water they have to scuba through, it's fast and hard currents with very little vision as the water is murky as a mo-fo
- kids have already been down there for several days, at least 3 are getting so fatigued they don't think they'll make a scuba trip
- rough estimates say the kids will have to be underwater (with scuba gear) anywhere from 30-90 min. Could be longer with more skittish kids.
- from entrance to where the boys are is roughly 3 miles... there are technically 3 flooded areas but only one is completely fucked. so even if they get through the fucked one, they still have two more flooded tunnels to deal with and 3 miles of walking

They were saying they might have to stay there until monsoon season is done, which is next November.

This is the path they want them to take, but apparently there's some side/dead-end tunnels the boys might accidentally go into while underwater.

-Also read that they aren't telling the kid the ex navy guy died because they don't want the kids freaking out...which is probably smart.

I've seen it in four news sources so I'm counting it as good info....

HALF of the boys can't swim.....plus "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."

Rescue mission is a go

Article

 

[Angry New Ager]

Yeah, Wikipedia has a shit photo of him, try this one.

He still looks like a San Francisco hobo, after being hosed down, dressed in a suit, and given a combover. That's a drinking man's face. But given the choice of calling Clive Cussler or Elon Musk for advice on an underwater cave rescue, I'd call Cussler in a heartbeat.

And yeah, we've got a thread here full of exceptional advice, as we criticize Elon Musk for his exceptional submarine, but nobody knows who the fuck we are, or cares. We're the only ones paying attention to it, and I think it safe to say that none of us takes our exceptional advice seriously, or thinks the rescuers should.

Musk's blatant self-promotion, however, is downright distasteful. He's sent a mini sub that is useless for its intended purpose all the way to Thailand, where it's been dumped on the rescue crew, who don't need it, and sure as hell don't need the distraction of showboating African Tony Stark swooping in to save the day.

Had Musk sent in reliable electric power supplies that worked, that the rescuers could actually use instead of running diesel generators constantly, I'd roll my eyes at his inevitable publicity whoring but not find him despicable. But this is just a rich man coming up with a toy on a whim and acting like it's a valuable, life-saving work of genius. It's almost enough to make me Mad on the Internet.

I bet that all 12 kids would make it out of the cave alive, only because I would have felt like a shitbag picking any other option--I wasn't optimistic. So that 11 of them are now out, and alive, is hitting me in the feels pretty fucking hard, but in the best possible way. So fuck Elon Musk and the mini-sub he rode in on.

 

[repentance]

They all out.

Delighted to have been wrong and wondering why I ever doubted the ability of these badasses.

 

[frozenrunner]

inspirational Hollywood movie when

 

[Xetzyr]

Musk could have done something really cool, like invented a real life version of the hookshot...

...instead he cobbled together some garbage and made an underwater coffin. His heart (or his brain) obviously just wasn't in it.

 

[GravityBeliever]

Seriously? This is amazing! When I first saw the news on this story they were presenting like it would take ten different miracles to rescue them all, but to think that they are safe. I'm so happy about how wrong I was.

 

[Magique]

Semper fi to all people there who saved those kids. Glad to have voted wrong.

 

[repentance]

inspirational Hollywood movie when

 

[Desire Lines]

these kids are going to live and every edgelord in this thread is going to be disappointed lol

told you so lol

 

[BerriesArnold]

Well hotdamn haha I'm so happy for the boys and their coach. This is one of the most miraculous things to happen in the recent news. Those kids are soldiers. Respect to those seals for executing the mission so well.

 

[Yellow Yam Scam]

L M F A O ! ! ! ! ! ! !
WORSHIPPERS OF DEATH AND AGENTS OF MEDIOCRITY BLOWN THE FUCK OUT FOREVER
BY THE TRUTH OF HUMAN POTENTIAL AND COOPERATION AMONG MANKIND
12/12
BET AGAINST THE HUMAN RACE AND LOSE EVERY TIME HA HA HA HA
STRIVE AND STRUGGLE EVERY DAY
STRENGTH IS OUR DESTINY
​

 

[JULAY]

View attachment 492505

Spoiler

 

[repentance]

 

[Lurkette]

View attachment 492512

Context?

 

[LegoTugboat]

Context?

The soccer team that was trapped are The Wild Boars.

Frogs would be frogmen, aka divers.

 

[mindlessobserver]

Thank God they all got out before Elon Musk showed up and killed them all. It was a close shave to be sure.

 

[Phantom]

inspirational Hollywood movie when

You know if they did make a movie the stupid "mini sub" duffle bag would end up becoming pivotal despite it being useless

 

[Banh Xeo]

View attachment 492512

Lol I love Thai people, glad to say my vote was wrong. Congrats to rescuers for showing the world how real men and women operate.

 

[Lurkette]

The soccer team that was trapped are The Wild Boars.

Frogs would be frogmen, aka divers.

In that case

 

[FitBitch]

At the start, I voted 0. The odds seemed to small. When they rescued four, I got optimistic for maybe half of them. When eight were out, I felt too optimistic hoping for all of them, but I wanted it. This morning I wake up to the best news I didn't think I could hope for. I'm so glad.

 

[repentance]

So many of our cows use Twitter as a platform from which to complain and attack that it was delightful to see it being used by so many for outpourings of support and gratitude.