12 boys lost in flooded Thai cave

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Was there any conclusion what caused the death of rescuer Saman Kunan (RIP)?

I had read that it was thought his regulator’s mouth piece had separated and he was unable to retrieve the Reg or the alt.
 
Breaking News: British cave divers also rescued four trapped Thai rescuers in Tham Luang Cave – Darkness Below
On the following day, Thursday June 28 and day six of the rescue, Rick and John dived the three short sumps to chamber 3. As they surfaced they realised there were people in the chamber. Hoping they’d found the missing boys they soon realised these men were older, it transpired they were Thai water company employees who had not been reported missing and who had been trapped for around twenty four hours, possibly longer. Their situation was desperate, conditions were worsening quickly, there was no communication to the surface and no one, least of all the two divers, knew at at that stage whether Chamber 3 would flood completely.

In the cave the water was still rising and although the chamber is in part of the show cave Rick described the diving conditions heading back to the cave entrance as appalling. As well as low visibility which was to be expected in the flood water the site had become contaminated with diesel after a pump installed inside the cave had been flooded. As they stood in the sumps the muddy water was churning, swirling and eddying around them. The four men were not divers, or even cavers. The two British divers had only their personal equipment, there was nothing spare for the four to use, and no time to return to the entrance for help, more equipment or more divers.

The two found themselves in a completely unexpected situation and quickly devised a plan to relay the four men through the three sumps and around 700m of “open” passage back to the cave entrance. Rick explained there were some positives, the sumps were shallow, under 5m deep, fairly short at around 10m long, the water was fairly warm and the four, though scared, were very keen to get out!

The plan was fairly simple – both divers were wearing twin side-mounted cylinders and therefore had two demand valves. Each of the two would then take it in turns and relay rescue each of the workers through the sumps, one at a time, utilising the mask from the other diver. The group would then be escorted back through the cave to the next sump where the process would be repeated. In any dive rescue there is always a risk that the victim will panic, and possibly harm the rescuer or damage his or her equipment.


It seems as if at least Oz and NZ media are picking up on the story:

There were 17 people rescued during the Thai Cave rescue

Thai rescuers didn’t just save the soccer team
 
On a British forum, people are suggesting that the British cave divers should be awarded the George Cross, UK's highest award for civilian courage and ranked second only after the Victoria Cross. I don't disagree...
 
The PBS Nova series in the US aired a 1 hour episode on the rescue.

You can watch it online at this link: Thai Cave Rescue | NOVA (might be US only)

Very interesting. Uses what appears to be actual GoPro footage from diving during the rescue. Seems the cave divers used sidemount exclusively, which I had expected given the narrowness of some of the passages.
 
FYI, I tried to watch this in Canada but it doesn’t work.

That's why I added the note that it was probably US only for the link.
 
@Dogbowl are you close enough to the border that you can get US TV? If so check the listings for the PBS station closest to you. Might be able to get it. I always watched CBC Channel 9 Windsor back when I lived in the Detroit area.
 
@Dogbowl are you close enough to the border that you can get US TV? If so check the listings for the PBS station closest to you. Might be able to get it. I always watched CBC Channel 9 Windsor back when I lived in the Detroit area.

I do have PBS Buffalo but the doc is not on the broadcast schedule in the near future.
 
I do have PBS Buffalo but the doc is not on the broadcast schedule in the near future.

It was just shown on regular TV last night. It will come up in reruns, but just keep checking.
 
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