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Thai Navy SEAL Dies Whilst Rescuing School Boys Trapped In Cave

Thai Navy SEAL Dies Whilst Rescuing School Boys Trapped In Cave


As volunteers from around the world frantically try to rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach inside the 10-kilometer long Tham Luang cave system, tragedy has struck.

Hundreds of volunteers have traveled from across Thailand and set up a 24-hour tent city in the middle of a remote national park near the cave where the Thai boys entered. Volunteers are offering free food and drinks to anyone who needs them, and there are medical tents set up that is offering free health care and a stretcher for tired rescue workers to lay down.

The search continues for the boys and their coach, and one former Navy SEAL from Thailand has lost his life after running out of oxygen. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Saman Kunan lost consciousness after placing oxygen tanks inside the cave, as oxygen levels inside the cave where the soccer team is trapped is running out of oxygen.

Authorities have said that a ventilation pipe needs to reach the trapped children and coach today, as fears of them losing oxygen and asphyxiating is growing more and more real. Oxygen levels in the portion of the cave where the team is trapped have dropped from 21% to 15%.

Arpakorn Yookongkaew, commander for Thailand’s Navy SEAL, said;

“We can no longer wait for all conditions (to be ready) because the circumstance is pressuring us. At first we thought that we could sustain the kids’ lives for a long time where they are now, but now, many things have changed. We have a limited amount of time.”

The location of the soccer team was discovered earlier this week, and Kunan’s job was to deliver oxygen to the section of the cave the boys were trapped in. Unfortunately, Kunan did not have enough oxygen for his trip out of the cave, and lost consciousness.  It takes between 6 and 7 hours for experienced divers to reach the section of the cave the boys are in and to return back to their command pint in the third chamber of the cave.

An anonymous source in the Navy told reporters that a rescue mission needs to be completed within 48 hours, and that three factors were threatening the life of the boys and their coach. These factors are the water level inside the cave, the amount of oxygen available, and the health of the soccer team and coach.

The twelve boys, aged between 11 and 16, and their coach face a difficult challenge – exiting a 200 meter stretch of cave that is completely flooded. Exiting the cave system may be easier than first thought, as when divers reached the boys they told the divers they could hear dogs barking, children playing, and even a rooster. 30 teams are scouring the jungle above the boys, looking for any hidden tunnels or a secret passageway that divers could descend and rescue the boys.