12 kids trapped in Thai Cave Complex

TravelerKai

Peacock
Gold Member
Fortis said:
How did the kids get down there? That doesn't seem to be strange to anyone?

*find dangerous cave*

*take a bunch of young, twitchy kids*

*cave floods with no escape*

*inexplicably forget it was rainy season*

I really don't fucking get it. Is this one of those "you need to be thai to understand" things?

According to one of the posts above, they thought they could still do it because the rainy season officially started a week later.

The Thai stuff is that they go in there for fun outside the rainy season.

They cannot swim for the exact same reasons Chinese cannot swim. You can use Chinese people for that reference point.

Dalaran also forgets that Thailand is the Land of Smiles. They just like to be positive as much as possible. They know they fucked up.

I blame that coach. That was a dumb idea and he is old enough to know better but then again..... he is 25 which these days is hardly mature anywhere on Earth for a male.
 

TravelerKai

Peacock
Gold Member
I'm surprised that cave is not full of deadly snakes. Thailand is full of dangerous snakes, scorpions, etc. It's like an Asian Style Australia or something. A reticulated python or a King Cobra would not find a place like that comfortable? Russell's vipers?
 

Seadog

Kingfisher
ChicagoFire said:
@Saweep

Have them hold on to it while an operator navigates the robot to safety. Will obviously take multiple trips. Just a suggestion...I understand the robot could explode or not fit but I'm just tossing in an idea. The point is it's pretty futile to send in more humans to potentially die. They have robots that detonate bombs right?

@Dalaran
This is why I don't watch the news. Is this some distraction that will quickly go away once certain indiscretions involving high profile people are revealed? To end this on a positive note I wish the kids the best of luck.

I always find it amusing and mildly frustrating when someone with absolutely no experience in said particular field(s) chimes in with an "obvious" solution. In this case underwater ROVs and technical cave diving.

Just have them hold on, and breath water? Or get on of these ROVs that can haul a man, but can navigate hair pin turns with and are less voluminous that a dive kit?

"I understand the robot could explode"? You're understanding is based on what exactly. You might as well also caution against the robot going rogue in a terminator-esqe scenario.

It was the same thing with the BP Horizon/Macondo blowout. Armchair quarterbacking from people who've never been involved in the oil industry beyond a visit to the gas station suggesting that halting a literal river of oil a mile under the sea coming out at a pressure strong enough to lift a car for every square inch ain't no thang.

Mage said:
It's amazing how something basic, like ability to swim that is a basic thing for any western child, is almost a rare superpower in most parts of the world.

West is the best.

We should accuse all Asians and blacks, trying to learn swimming, of cultural appropriation.

As a child I was captivated by the exoticism of East, the more I learn the more I get disappointed in the East and the more I appreciate West.

We should talk about these facts and differences more so that the young generation understand how blessed they are and stop hating their culture like leftists program them to do.

People talk about swimming like it's some luxury good, why? When I was like 3, I got taken down to the lake, played around in the water, and swimming just came to me. I had an aunt who helped guide me through the motions of diving until I was doing it on my own, and then you just get better. And this is in Canada where you can access water maybe 4 months of the year. This could just be cultural too, I had family who would go to the water, and if I had kids I would do the same. It's like a reinforcing cycle either way.

I have however crossed paths with Asians who did grow up in the water, and these guys were literal fish. Like poor kids who grow up spending 40 hours a week kicking around a ball of tape becoming soccer stars, kids who grow up where diving/surfing are a way of life can become monsters of the sport.
 

TheFinalEpic

Pelican
Catholic
Gold Member
When I heard the Navy SEALS were involved, I was like "they'll be out of the cave in no time". Then I realized it was the Thai Navy SEALS...
 

Dodgy

Robin
TravelerKai said:
Dalaran also forgets that Thailand is the Land of Smiles. They just like to be positive as much as possible. They know they fucked up.

I blame that coach. That was a dumb idea and he is old enough to know better but then again..... he is 25 which these days is hardly mature anywhere on Earth for a male.

Well the coach is 25 and Thai, which makes it even worse. I love Thailand, I love the culture and the people, but I'll also admit that they're not the brightest bulbs on the global string. They also have a genius to turn something simple, like making a cappuccino or going to the beach, into a complete clusterfuck. The trapped kids and coach were likely not intelligence and self-aware enough to understand the seriousness of the situation when they started and they probably still don't understand the full implications of their predicament. And I doubt the Thai rescue workers are telling them when they communicate with them.
 

Hell_Is_Like_Newark

Kingfisher
Gold Member
TravelerKai said:
I'm surprised that cave is not full of deadly snakes. Thailand is full of dangerous snakes, scorpions, etc. It's like an Asian Style Australia or something. A reticulated python or a King Cobra would not find a place like that comfortable? Russell's vipers?

I went through a cave tour in Khao Sok. The cave entrance was full of bats handing upside down on the ceiling. Inside the cave, the only wildlife I came across were small fish that didn't have eyes. Sections of the cave you had to swim through. The guides watched the weather very closely. About an hour after leaving the cave, it poured rain.

My girlfriend (now wife) asked one the guides what happens if it rains whilst we are in the cave. The reply: "we all die".
 

RIslander

 
Banned
I would say the best solution would be to run a line and oxygen tube into the cave to pressurize it. Then, focusing on keeping water levels as low as possible until they're low enough the kids can walk out. The problem is medical problems are inevitable but honestly it's the only real option. I'm an experienced diver and have cavern dived extensively (that's a cave where there is ambient light and a fairly clear path to the surface) and even that can be dangerous.

I suppose another option could be sedating the kids, putting on full diving masks and helmets and attaching them to the line via a harness, then towing them by the line and the oxygen tube slowly, with the professional divers guiding the tow operator via radio. A far fetched idea.

This situation will most likely result in tragedy. Also, to the earlier poster calling out the kid smiling... A Thai could be on the gallows with a noose around his neck and still be smiling.
 

Saweeep

 
Banned
RIslander said:
I would say the best solution would be to run a line and oxygen tube into the cave to pressurize it. Then, focusing on keeping water levels as low as possible until they're low enough the kids can walk out. The problem is medical problems are inevitable but honestly it's the only real option. I'm an experienced diver and have cavern dived extensively (that's a cave where there is ambient light and a fairly clear path to the surface) and even that can be dangerous.

This situation will most likely result in tragedy. Also, to the earlier poster calling out the kid smiling... A Thai could be on the gallows with a noose around his neck and still be smiling.

Elon Musk has suggested some sort of blow up tube and offered use of his power bank things.

The problem with all the ideas regarding pumping or pressurising is the distance to the boys. The water pumps are basically doing nothing as a result.
 

TigerMandingo

 
Banned
TheFinalEpic said:
When I heard the Navy SEALS were involved, I was like "they'll be out of the cave in no time". Then I realized it was the Thai Navy SEALS...

Shit, our SEALS couldn't even beat the Taliban. What makes you think they'd succeed in this case? :laugh:
 

Bienvenuto

Pelican
Gold Member
TheFinalEpic said:
When I heard the Navy SEALS were involved, I was like "they'll be out of the cave in no time". Then I realized it was the Thai Navy SEALS...

Promise you US Navy Seals are present right now. They might not be running the show, they might not have much to do but some will be on site.
 
Always wondered why some countries can't get their shit together and make it mandatory for children to learn to swim. Some countries force you by law to send your kids to swimming class starting at age 6.

Hope they make it out.

--------------

And yes - the entire trip sounds like one irresponsible idea following the next.

What's the next school trip - ISIS-Syria territories?

I once led and informal group of teens into the mountains. Then we encountered a spot where we had to jump over a crevice. Not making it meant that you could drop to your death and we were not equipped to secure it properly. I had to argue with my friend to turn around, because we are not risking the lives of a bunch of younger teens only because we can likely make it through on our own.

Those cave trips are relatively dangerous even if you are experienced. I knew a guy who does it for a hobby - no joke - lots of things can go wrong.
 

Abelard Lindsey

Woodpecker
It looks to me that a tunnel will have to be drilled from the surface down to where the kids are. This will take time. Until then, some kind of hose will have to be laid out in order to get air and drinking water to these kids.

The question goes begging: Why the F were these kids in this cave to begin with?
 

CaptainChardonnay

Ostrich
Gold Member
I don't get the point of your post Dalaran1991, are you trying to say that this event isn't happening? As TK said, Thai people smile a lot. They're a friendly and warm people. You can pass bottles of water and MREs through the smaller passages in the cave, run a line to the kids nail it down and then dolly it through the underwater parts after a driver has gone through and set it up.

RIP to the Thai SEAL. The guy wasn't even on active duty anymore. Came back to try to save the kids. Very sad.

I explored a few caves a while in Vietnam, nothing as narrow as this one though and when I was younger I went into a really small and narrow cave my friends and I found in a forest. We crawled through it and the whole time I was banging my helmet along the rock walls and ceilings going through. The small caves are not fun.

Also almost drowned not too long ago swimming far out of shore while in Brazil into the waves with no safety gear after hiking for 2 hours. Drowning is no joke, stay safe boys!
 

Saweeep

 
Banned
Abelard Lindsey said:
It looks to me that a tunnel will have to be drilled from the surface down to where the kids are. This will take time. Until then, some kind of hose will have to be laid out in order to get air and drinking water to these kids.

The question goes begging: Why the F were these kids in this cave to begin with?

The drilling thing poses other challenges.

Remember the miners? many different attempts were made to do that and it took many varied approaches before success. This is a whole other magnitude due to increased drilling depth and the small matter of keeping the boys alive for the months it would take.
 

RIslander

 
Banned
Saweeep said:
Abelard Lindsey said:
It looks to me that a tunnel will have to be drilled from the surface down to where the kids are. This will take time. Until then, some kind of hose will have to be laid out in order to get air and drinking water to these kids.

The question goes begging: Why the F were these kids in this cave to begin with?

The drilling thing poses other challenges.

Remember the miners? many different attempts were made to do that and it took many varied approaches before success. This is a whole other magnitude due to increased drilling depth and the small matter of keeping the boys alive for the months it would take.

The major differences between this case and the Chilean miners is going to be the humidity and water in the cave, as well as the ability to deliver supplies and the fact that they're children. The water is going to spread disease very quickly.
 

Handsome Creepy Eel

Owl
Catholic
Gold Member
Even if you're a decent swimmer and have a small enough frame to squeeze through "a passage no bigger than a washing machine door", you shouldn't be anywhere near that cave. That place looks like a good site for a maximum-security prison/torture-chamber, not a tourist attraction.
 

RedPillUK

Pelican
Everyone talking about learning to swim is missing the point. Just because you can swim doesn't mean anything in a situation like this. Can anyone here swim for five hours straight? Unless you swim regularly I doubt you will even have the fitness to manage even two hours of constant swimming.

Thirty minutes to one hour of constant swimming in these conditions will be difficult to most people even if they have a decent level of fitness and took hundreds of swimming lessons as a kid. A lot of this is underwater so you need to hold your breath too, limiting the amount you can swim even more.
 

LeBeau

Ostrich
Gold Member
Yeah, I'm not sure why guys like ChicagoFire even bother posting. I'm not a perfect poster, but we need to emphasize to members that the whole point of the forum is to share information from a standpoint of actual knowledge or experience.

It's the same thing in the Travel forum when guys like TravelMuseums were speculating on places they've never been or didnt even bother to read about.
 

Mercenary

Hummingbird
They have been in there since 23 June.
They were found by British divers on 2 July.

That's 10 days with no food, only dirty cave water to drink, no bathroom to piss or shit, nothing to sleep on or to keep warm, and no source of light...so you have no idea if it's day or night, or if minutes, hours or days have passed.

Surprised they have lasted this long to be honest.


Apparently their shoes and bags were found halfway into the cave.
Why would they take their shoes off, and abandon their bags halfway into a cave ?
A lot of this doesn't make sense right now.
Story is still very fishy.
 
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