Thailands Lost Boys Found.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

They lost one diver while he was placing air tanks along the route? I think that's what I heard. It seems the plan is still to try to get them out through the water.

Husband says that they are building dams like crazy to divert the monsoon waters and are pumping water out of the cave and seem confident they can stave off that at least for the time being.

The biggest challenge will be figuring out how to get the boys out along the route that exists because it's obviously extremely challenging for the Thai Navy SEALS; they've lost one already in their attempts to create a viable route for the boys. And the boys and their coach will be weak from all those days on inadequate food and water making that even harder than it otherwise would be.

I really, really hope they can get them out because I can't think of anything more hopeless and demoralizing than to find them all alive just to watch them slowly drown as the water rises.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: Bhadhidar


The underwater passage way is something on the order of 30 feet deep, which represents about 1 atmosphere. 1 atm = ~14psi. To fill a tube of the length and size required to fit a person through with a constant 14psi of pressure would require absolutely massive amounts of air volume (think like...building sized fans). Remember, the tube would have to be open on at least one end (because otherwise you've have to move some kind of an air-lock inside the cave...which wouldn't fit through the opening in the passage).

I think you misunderstood me.

You don’t pressurize the entire tube, there would be no need to continuously refill the tube with “massive amounts of air volume” despite the tube being open at both ends because it is the walls of the tube that are sealed and pressurized, not the passage through the tube.

Think of a cardboard tube.

Paint it completely inside and out, don’t forget the ends.

Now, in your mind, eliminate the cardboard tube, leaving only the painted “shell” behind.

This shell is the what the structure of the air beam I’m describing looks like: the paint would be the fabric used to construct the tube, the space once occupied by the cardboard would be pressurized once the tube had been put in place. The walls of the tube would only need to be a few inches (2-3” perhaps less) thick to provide sufficient rigidity to the tunnel formed.

Once pressurized, the tube walls become rigid, opening up the interior of the tube itself to be traversed, even when submerged, without scuba gear, simply by crawling through the tube.

It would likely be a claustrophobic crawl for sure, but it beats death by drowning or slow asphyxiation.

a reply to: Bhadhidar

Okay, I understand what you're saying now...a double wall set up where only the interstitial space is pressurized.

Still, it would have to be pretty damn rigid to withstand even 1atm of pressure. A sealed steel 55 gallon drum, for example, will crush in only 2 feet of water! The pressure at 30 feet is 15x higher. So, take the surface area of the tube in square inches and multiply it by 14, and that's the total force in pounds trying to crush the tube. Like I said, better be one hell of a rigid tube. The other problem I see is the buoyancy of the tube. The total amount of buoyancy will be a function of the amount of water displaced at that depth. That buoyancy is going to want to push the tube up against the top of the chamber and cause it to deflect.

Interesting idea though!

From bottom of the the bbc link.

www.bbc.co.uk...

Apparently the extraction of the boys in the cave is underway. The Guardian in the UK has a live feed from Thailand following the progress of the operation:

www.theguardian.com...

52m ago
10:54
The first group of boys should be on their way back now.

Helicopters await to ferry them to the region’s largest hospital almost 60 miles away.

In a press release, the head of the joint command centre, Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osottanakorn, issued an update on the progress of the cave rescue operation.

The operation began at 10am when 13 international divers entered the cave. 10 of them headed for chamber 9 (where the boys are) and chamber 6 (near the junction) as planned. Another 3 cave divers performed their duty to support diving efforts beginning at 14.00.

There are a number of additional rescue personnel including divers, from Thailand, USA, Australia, China and Europe stationed from chamber 3 to the entrance. This includes a rope system to assist over difficult terrain in chambers 2 and 3.

Due to the difficulty of the operation, Osottanakorn says it is unknown how long it might take until the first child has made it out – it had been suggested earlier today that the first of the boys could be out by 3pm BST.

www.channelnewsasia.com...

CHIANG RAI: It's the "exact moment" rescue personnel have been waiting for.

That's according to mission chief Narongsak Osottanakorn who announced at a press conference that at 10am (local time) on Sunday (Jul 8), 18 divers began the rescue operation of 12 Thai schoolboys and their football coach trapped inside the Tham Luang cave complex since Jun 23.

Here is a diagram of the cave system:

According to the live feed from Thailand, two boys may have been rescued:

www.theguardian.com...

Ten minutes ago:

Various contradictory reports are circulating regarding the emergence of two of the boys.

Reuters says, citing a local official, that the first two members of the Thai football team have been recovered from the cave.

ITV’s John Irvine says that a local police chief has just told him that two of the boys are out of the cave complex. They are apparently safe and reasonably well.

The Bangkok Post, meanwhile, says the first 2 boys are on their way to the entrance of the cave suggesting that they have completed the swim and are now walking through the chambers.

The Guardian cannot confirm any of these reports. If the boys have escaped, it would be at least two hours ahead of schedule.

Apparently they are quite ahead of schedule with this. It might indicate that efforts at pumping water out of the cave, which have been going on continually for the last day or so, have succeeded in lowering the levels to such an extent that more of the passage is walkable.

www.theguardian.com...

1m ago
13:25
A reporter at the scene has apparently been told by rescue teams at the entrance of the cave that the lowered water levels have shortened the journey out of the cave.

Many chambers are reportedly walk-able now, which would go some way to corroborating the Reuters report.

Further rain, however, is forecast later today.

It is monsoon season. They are acting during a lull in the weather. Any sustained downpour could drastically alter conditions in the cave, so they are acting while they have a window of opportunity.

According to the latest update on the Guardian's live feed, four more boys are walking the last section out toward the entrance of the cave. It may turn out that water pumps were instrumental in augmenting the heroic efforts of the divers (particularly the two British divers who discovered the boys) on the scene.

Update: According to the Guardian live feed, six boys are now out of the cave.

www.theguardian.com...

The US president Donald Trump has suddenly announced that his government are working closely with the Thai government to help evacuate the cave.

A bus load of Republican senators are on their way to the airport as we chuckle. (Just teasing.)

In the latest update it is speculated that some of the boys may have been sedated and removed from the cave under sedation. It's related to the number of ambulances leaving the site. It might be just that because of muscle atrophy and fatigue some of the boys need TLC all the way.

Apparently there is going to be a ten to twelve hour wait before they go after the second group of boys and the coach.

Live feed:

www.theguardian.com...

According to the latest update. Four boys have been rescued. It is said that they traveled 1 kilometre under water on their way out.

Guardian update:

The rescue has been concluded for the night and will resume in 10-20 hours because “we’ve used all the oxygen,” according to the operation chief.

“Its actually just falling quiet here,” says Dan Johnston on the BBC News Channel. “There’s been a lot of activity in the past few minutes. It looks like people are leaving this site for the night.

“One thing to bear in mind is the tiredness levels of the cave diving exerts who are leading this operation. They have been working busily all day and it looks like some of them are actually leaving the dive site now.

“It looks like they’ve taken the decision that they have done as much as they can for today.”

Maybe somebody should talk to those kids ... about how they ended up so deep into a cave. Obviously covering yourself from rain is not a good explanation to go that deep.

They are a soccer team. Maybe they should be invited to meet some Top soccer players ...

originally posted by: Flanker86
Maybe somebody should talk to those kids ... about how they ended up so deep into a cave. Obviously covering yourself from rain is not a good explanation to go that deep.

They are a soccer team. Maybe they should be invited to meet some Top soccer players ...

Yeah i dont get it, how the f did they get down there? they had to crawl through some very tight spots where a man with tanks can barely get through. So even without water it was not an easy thing todo, and why go so deep into the caves?the story doesnt add up

I wonder if this was some mind over matter rocky balboa training bs thing?

However on a nother forum it looks l I ke 6 may have been rescued now

According to the BBC the divers have re-entered the cave (about 15 minutes ago). Four boys and the team coach are still in the cave.

www.bbc.com...

BBC correspondent, Jonathan Head tweeted:

Heavy, constant rain in caves area. Makes this last day of #Thamluangcave critical. Cave flooding is possible soon. They need to get last 4 boys and coach out in 1 day if possible.

All released and safe great Job.
Thanks USA, israel, UK, Australia, Thailand and all other helpers..

Boys' families will visit them soon All the boys are in hospital and their families will visit them soon, Mr Narongsak said. "I can officially say that the rest of the boys have been rescued. Their parents are going home to take a shower and change. They should be able to visit the children through the glass tonight." Families have not yet been able to meet any of the rescued boys in person, due to a fear of infection. Instead they have had to stand behind a glass partition.

www.bbc.co.uk...