________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk] [www.atozkerala.in , www.atozkerala.blogspot.com]
Mae Sai: The final five members of a young football team were rescued
from a flooded Thai cave today after spending 18 harrowing days trapped
deep inside, completing an astonishing against-the-odds rescue mission
that captivated the world.
Elite foreign divers and Thai Navy SEALs extracted the final batch of
four boys, plus the 25-year-old coach, today afternoon via a treacherous
escape route that required them to squeeze through narrow, water-filled
tunnels.
"All 12 'Wild Boars' and coach have been extracted from the cave," the
SEALs said in a Facebook post, referring to the boys by the name of
their football team.
"All are safe," they added, signing off with what has become their
trademark "Hooyah" that they used to celebrate the successful
extractions of the other eight boys over the previous two days.
The boys, aged from 11 to 16, and their coach, ventured into the Tham
Luang cave in mountainous northern Thailand on June 23 after football
practice and got trapped when heavy rains caused flooding forcing to
take shelter on a muddy ledge.
They spent nine days in darkness until two British divers found them,
looking gaunt but otherwise offering smiles to the divers and appearing
to be in remarkably good spirits.
But the initial euphoria at finding them dissipated as authorities
struggled to devise a safe plan to get them out, with the shelf more
than four kilometres (2.5 miles) inside the cave and the labyrinth of
tunnels leading to them filled with water.
Authorities mulled ideas such as drilling holes into the mountain or
waiting months until monsoon rains ended and they could walk out, with
the rescue chief at one point dubbing the efforts to save them "Mission
Impossible".
With oxygen levels in their chamber falling to dangerous levels and
monsoon rains threatening to flood the cave above the ledge where the
boys were sheltering, rescuers decided on the least-worst option of
having divers escort them out through the tunnels.
The escape route was a challenge for even experienced divers. The boys
had no previous diving experience so the rescuers trained them how to
use a mask and breathe underwater via an oxygen tank.
One fear had been that they would panic while trying to swim underwater, even with a diver escorting them.
The death of a former Thai Navy SEAL diver who ran out of oxygen in a
flooded area of the cave on Friday underscored the dangers of the escape
route.
The ups and downs of the rescue bid entranced Thailand and also fixated
a global audience, drawing support from celebrities as varied as US
President Donald Trump, football star Lionel Messi and tech guru Elon
Musk.
British Prime Minister Theresa May was one of the first world leaders
to celebrate the success, and pay tribute to the divers who risked their
own lives to save the boys.
"Delighted to see the successful rescue of those trapped in the caves
in Thailand. The world was watching and will be saluting the bravery of
all those involved," May said in a Twitter post.
Now they are out, concerns are set to focus on the physical and mental toll of the ordeal.
Experts warned that drinking contaminated water or otherwise being
exposed to bird or bat droppings in the cave could lead to dangerous
infections.
They also said counselling would be needed to deal with the
psychological trauma of spending so long not knowing whether they were
going to survive.
But there were some promising initial signs.
Medical chiefs reported today morning that the eight boys rescued on
Sunday and Monday were in relatively good mental and physical
conditions.
"All eight are in good health, no fever... everyone is in a good mental
state," Jedsada Chokdamrongsuk, permanent secretary of the public
health ministry, said before all 13 had been rescued.
Nevertheless, the boys would remain in quarantine in hospital until
doctors were sure they had not contracted any infections from inside the
cave.
Even before the final rescues, tributes began for the boys and their ability to survive the ordeal.
"I cannot understand how cool these small kids are, you know? Thinking
about how they've been kept in a small cave for two weeks, they haven't
seen their mums," Ivan Karadzic, who runs a diving business in Thailand
and has been involved in the rescue mission, told the BBC.
"Incredibly strong kids. Unbelievable almost.
