tech talk GettingThe inside storythe Boys Out Tham Luang Cave Rescue Text by Rosemary E. Lunn Edited by Peter Symes On Saturday, 23 June 2018, a football team of boys in Thailand, aged 11 to 16, finished practice under the watchful eye of their 25-year-old coach, Ekkapol Chantawong. The group then cycled to and entered a popular tourist attraction, Tham Luang Cave. Some of the boys had never visited it before and were curious to know what it looked like. They explored the cave for about an hour before turning around and retraced their steps. They could not get out. At around 9:00 p.m., Sungwut ??????? Kummongkol, leader of the Mae Sai Rescue Unit Team, received a call that some of the children had disappeared. It prompted a search to begin. 81 X-RAY MAG : 87 : 2018 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO US AIR FORCE / PETER SYMES The Thai Navy SEALs were brave but not equipped, nor trained tech talk for a nil-visibility overhead envi- ronment in which you cannot go up if you have a problem, and they found the caving and cave diving challenging. At 10:00 p.m., Kummongkol led on Monday, 25 June, and head- “A diver felt his way through with the first responders into the cave. ed for Chamber 3 in the cave. It his hands in the dark. He found a The team of 14 local rescue work- took them about an hour to get hole that he could push through ers set up a light and found the to the chamber. with his foot. The more he pushed, boys’ bicycles and sports equip- the further in it went. The diver ment, which had been left near SEAL Captain Anan Surawan emerged after diving for some the entrance to the cave. told Channel NewsAsia: “After time to tell us that they could get Chamber 3, there was a through the hole. The divers came The next day, shoes and bags T-junction. One section was under back and told us that they did were found inside the cave. two metres of water. There was a not find the kids. We were wor- However, the search was tempo- small hole in which we could dive ried. Where were the boys?” rarily suspended because con- through. On the other side, there tinual heavy rain thwarted access would be a small sand bank on The Royal Thai Navy later posted to Tham Luang cave. The rescuers the right, and it was thought the on their Facebook page that the could still enter the first part of kids would be there. team had stopped diving around the cave, but the small 1800hrs because it had CAPT. JESSICA TAIT / US AIR FORCE hole leading farther into been raining all day and the cave was flooded, so the water level in the cave to be a mammoth and vital task The international cave diving British cavers also have a long they went back and con- was rising. They stated, for the agencies and volunteers. team had nothing but the utmost history of overseas cave explora- tacted the Sirikorn Rescue “Handprints were found respect for the Royal Thai Navy tion and surveying, and this is cer- Team because they had around the cave wall, but Very brave men SEALs, and considered them very tainly the case in Thailand. In par- diving equipment. A team we still cannot locate the but ill-equipped brave, because they were oper- ticular, members of the Shepton of 22 local rescue workers children.” It needs to be pointed out that ating in such a harsh, alien situ- Mallet Caving Club, Mendip and divers then entered SEAL divers across the world are ation. The rescuers discussed the have helped catalogue, survey the cave but found their A SEAL diver said that the specialist military personnel, trained situation and agreed that they and describe a number of Thai diving cylinders got stuck water was so murky that to deal with unusual and uncon- needed help from experts. caves over several years, includ- during the dive. even with lights, they could ventional warfare, i.e. reconnais- ing Tham Luang cave. When the not see where they were sance missions and underwater British cave diving news came through that the boys “I decided to reach out going underwater, so they demolition. Their training is tough Britain has a long history of cave were trapped, the archives at the to the Royal Thai Navy needed to be able to lift and conducted in harsh and rescue, with some of the teams Shepton Mallet Caving Club were to send the Thai Navy their heads above the extreme environments. There will, being in existence for more raided, and surveys and informa- SEALs to help us because water. however, be very little, if any, train- than 70 years across the United tion on the Tham Luang Cave they would have spe- ing done in dry and wet caves, Kingdom and Ireland. Caving and were sent to Thailand to help the cialist equipment. They Anupong Paojinda, the because this is not an environment cave diving rescues require spe- rescuers. confirmed they would Interior Minister, told the a SEAL will tend to encounter in cific skills and equipment to safely come,” said Narongsak media that the divers could their career. Therefore, the SEALs extract injured or trapped explor- The first foreign caver on the Osottanakorn, Governor only proceed when enough were not equipped nor trained for ers. Methods include confined scene was also a Brit—more spe- of Chaing Raid. water was pumped out this specific rescue location—i.e. a space, mountaineering and rope cifically, Vern Unsworth, an active, so that there was space nil-visibility overhead environment, techniques that work in a difficult experienced caver of more The Thai SEALs arrive between the water and where you cannot go up if you and demanding environment, than 40 years standing. Unsworth Twenty Royal Thai Navy ceiling to make it safer to have a problem, and they found i.e. somewhere pitch black that is learned to cave whilst exploring SEAL divers arrived and work. Pumping the water the caving and cave diving chal- frequently muddy, cold and wet. systems in the Yorkshire Dales. entered Tham Luang from the cave and the sur- lenging. This can include small passages In recent years, he has been Cave at around 2:45 a.m. rounding area would prove and low or no-visibility conditions. extensively exploring Tham Luang CAPT. JESSICA TAIT / US AIR FORCE 82 X-RAY MAG : 87 : 2018 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO tech talk “I got called out at 02.00 “At 3 p.m. I received a call Sunday morning (24 June) telling me I was booked saying that children were on the evening flight to missing in Tham Luang. Can Thailand. I was told to I come and help? expect the unexpected.” Cave. Unsworth very best, they were not The British Cave Rescue Thailand, the mainstream media therefore splits his used to diving in water the Council therefore co- reported that ongoing heavy rain- time between the colour of strong, black cof- ordinated the UK response fall and the flooded cave were United Kingdom and fee. He knew that special- (throughout the whole res- causing difficulties for the rescuers. a village in Chiangrai ist cave diving expertise cue) and phone calls were Province, situated would be urgently needed quickly made. Volanthen The three Brits arrived at Tham about 15 minutes at Tham Luang Cave. The told a BBC journalist that he Luang Cave late on Wednesday, away from the cave conditions were pretty much was at work that day when 27 June, and inspected the cave. system. Unsworth identical to British cave he got a telephone call. “At It was still raining. The mainstream had been involved in sump diving—a constricted, 3 p.m. I received a call tell- media asked the divers for a cave rescue opera- low or no-visibility, flooded envi- over four decades of experience. ing me I was booked on the eve- comment. Volanthen duly obliged tions in the United ronment. It was important to get He has explored and surveyed ning flight to Thailand. I was told to with one sentence, “We’ve got a Kingdom, but “noth- the experience there to support caves in Somerset, Panama, Peru expect the unexpected.” job to do.” ing on this scale.” the Thai Navy SEALs. Unsworth told and Thailand. In addition, he is CNN, “It was a race against time. Cave Leader for Dan Yr Ogof Now that an official request had Belgium cave diver Ben Reyme- “Tham Luang has They needed world-class divers, Cave in South Wales (a Cave been made, the three men duly nants also arrived onsite to assist been my third home and that’s what we have got.” Leader has a set of specialist packed and headed for London with the rescue. Various articles in for the past six skills in order to safely lead others Heathrow and boarded the 21.25 the mainstream media reported years,” said Unsworth. On Tuesday, 26 June 2018, underground). Harper has done a flight to Thailand. “A cave res- that, initially, the Brits had their In 2014 and 2015, Unsworth handed a note to lot of caving in Thailand. In fact, cue is never where you want or doubts, because they felt that Unsworth was part of Weerasak Kowsurat, Thailand’s he had only just returned from a expect it to be, nor is at the time diving conditions were unsafe.