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Home » Rescuer dies in attempt to free Thai soccer team trapped in cave

Rescuer dies in attempt to free Thai soccer team trapped in cave

The New Neo Posted on by

This is very bad news:

A former Thai Navy SEAL volunteering in the Tham Luang rescue has drowned in the cave after falling unconscious during his return dive from the trapped boys.

SEAL commander Arpakorn Yookongkaew told a news conference today that the rescuer was working in a volunteer capacity and died during an overnight mission in which he was moving oxygen canisters…

The death underlines the intense risks of the mission to rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach who have been trapped since June 23.

“Intense risks,” indeed. I have been disturbed and worried about the chances for rescue ever since I first heard the news about the trapped boys and an explanation of the physical realities of the situation. I deeply hope they are rescued and that not a single one of the other heroes (which I think is the proper word: heroes) trying to assist them has any sort of mishap.

We have become used to technology being able to conquer so many things and aid in so many situations. But it has its limits. Let’s hope those limits are not reached in this case:

So far, more than 130 million litres of water has been pumped out of the cave at a rate of 180,000 litres an hour, but rescuers are still struggling to plug every water source that flows into the cave and water levels beyond the T-junction where the boys are trapped has been agonisingly slow to drop.

Mr Narongsak told reporters overnight that it was still too dangerous to try and shepherd the boys out underwater…

Above ground, hundreds of infantry men and a number of volunteer “bird nesters” — men who scale mountains in search of the valuable and edible swallows nests that sell for hundreds of dollars — continued to hunt for alternative “chimneys” into the cave and a safer exit route for the boys.

New equipment is also expected to arrive today that can measure the thickness in the cave walls in the hope of finding a point that might be thin enough to drill through.

Perhaps that might be a better bet.

Comments

Rescuer dies in attempt to free Thai soccer team trapped in cave — 25 Comments

  1. If it fails it will not be for want of trying. I think that the entire world is unified in their hopes and prayers for the rescue of these kids.

    This is a real-life drama that will keep the world on tenterhooks.

  2. What fails me is nobody mapped the cave.

    Has anyone asked that?

    https://www.airforce.com/careers/featured-careers/special-operations

    “The Airmen who make up U.S. Air Force Special Operations are a special breed of warrior. It’s their job to push beyond limits by being mentally tougher, physically stronger, and ardently committed to serving our country and protecting our freedom. A job for the best of the best, this elite team of heroes goes where others won’t because they are trained and ready to do what others can’t. ”

    I have flat feet. Plus I’m close to sixty.

  3. SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Some immigrant U.S. Army reservists and recruits who enlisted in the military with a promised path to citizenship are being abruptly discharged, the Associated Press has learned.

    The AP was unable to quantify how many men and women who enlisted through the special recruitment program have been booted from the Army, but immigration attorneys say they know of more than 40 who have been discharged or whose status has become questionable, jeopardizing their futures.

    It’s official,

    https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/death-ball-turret-gunner

    “From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,
    And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
    Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
    I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
    When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.”

    Now we want them in the armed forces.

  5. So far, more than 130 million litres of water has been pumped out of the cave at a rate of 180,000 litres an hour

    Maybe they should try blocking up the entrance, and pump air in, while pumping water out.

    Also if they were to pump in air with some traceable elements, perhaps they could detect other holes.

    Probably not a great idea, but there aren’t any, anyway.

  6. The Thai Seal’s Death is heartbreaking.

    But still with so much energy spent on saving the lives of 13 people, I can’t help but feel good, if only for a minute.

    After all, we live in a world of Leftists and wannabe Tin-pot (or Pol Pot, if you will) dictators and Nanny State fascists and Antifa ‘Red Brigades’. They believe anyone who disagrees with them deserves to die.

    They believe the death of unborn babies to be a simple medical procedure rather than the cold blooded murder of a human being before it’s had a chance to breath air. And some are even pushing for the ‘right’ to murder infants. And old people. And the developmentally disabled.

    So, to see how much these 13 lives matter. And they do matter, is a balm to the soul. At least to my soul. I need to watch this, to see humanity at their best while so many sink to their worst.

    My prayers to the soul of the Thai Navy Seal: Rest in Peace. You’re death meant something. Not all of us will be able to say the same.

  7. no place to put this..

    Hey Nero!

    CHINA’s military reforms have been revealed by leaked internal documents, which indicate Beijing intends to expand its military might offshore so that the country will be allowed to “manage a crisis, contain a conflict, win a war” and overtake the United States in military strength.

    not like i didnt mention this was where it was going, now you have a memo defining it… guess bombs have to fly before we notice it!!!!

    The report adds a military expansion will allow China to “more effectively create a situation, manage a crisis, contain a conflict, win a war, defend the expansion of our country’s strategic interests in an all-round fashion and realise the goals set by the party and Chairman Xi”.

    It also makes clear from the start that the People’s Liberation Army is in line with the “core” leader Xi Jinping and agrees and adheres to his thought on socialism for a new era.

    According to Newsweek, the authors argue a “strong military might is important for a country to grow from being big to being strong,” indicating that the US, Russia and Japan are the example of it.

    The document gives particular importance to avoiding the Thucydides Trap, which is when a rising power comes into conflict with a more established enemy.

    The report said a strong military is the best way to “escape the obsession that war is unavoidable between an emerging power and a ruling hegemony”.

  8. You either have a map or you mark your way. Preferably both, because your map could be wrong. Belt and suspenders, folks.

  9. I am so regretful that a former Thai SEAL got killed. And I don’t even know what that means after ten years of Cobra Gold. But after ten years of Cobra Gold I don’t want any Thais getting killed, let alone Sailors.

    Thailand means the land of the free.

    I’m sorry if this comment appears to be flippant. I don’t mean it to be. All I can think is “Oh God.” I remember the Thais who were so good to me. Like I remember the ROKs and how the NORKs sank the Cheonan. And I thought of the Anyang and the men and exclaimed “Oh God”

  12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Rawalpindi#Sinking

    Whilst patrolling north of the Faroe Islands on 23 November 1939, she investigated a possible enemy sighting, only to find that she had encountered two of the most powerful German warships, the battle cruisers SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU which had been conducting a sweep between Iceland and the Faroes. Rawalpindi was able to signal the German ships’ location back to base. Despite being hopelessly outgunned, 60-year-old Captain Edward Coverley Kennedy RN of Rawalpindi decided to fight, rather than surrender as demanded by the Germans. He was heard to say “We’ll fight them both, they’ll sink us, and that will be that. Good-bye”….

  14. Do NOT go into the cave,
    ‘
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Sydney_%28D48%29

    On 19 November 1941, Sydney was involved in a mutually destructive engagement with the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran, and was lost with all 645 aboard. The wrecks of both ships were lost until 2008; Sydney was found on 17 March, five days after her adversary. Sydney’s defeat is commonly attributed to the proximity of the two ships during the engagement, and Kormoran’s advantages of surprise and rapid, accurate fire. However, the cruiser’s loss with all hands compared to the survival of most of the Germans have resulted in controversy, with some alleging that the German commander used illegal ruses to lure Sydney into range, that a Japanese submarine was involved, and that the true events of the battle are concealed behind a wide-ranging cover up….

    No, you see. perception is not reality.

  15. In the Malacca straight we used to trick pirates into thinking destroyers were merchant vessels.

  18. I realize this will mark me as an @$$*** forever but I’m going need proof this guy graduated BUD/S.

    Brave man, certainly. But a SEAL?

  19. No discussion of the coach’s stupidity and irresponsibility having now led to a needless death? There are far less dangerous ways to build team spirit and confidence in overcoming difficult situations.

    “The Tham Luang Nang Non caves are known locally as off-limits, a dangerous place where parents warn their children not to go into, especially during monsoon season.”

  22. Neo, thank you for the kind reply. What I meant to say is I don’t still don’t know how Thai SEALs compare to our SEALs. I should. But I can’t know everything.

    I know how the Danes compare.

    https://specialoperations.com/17526/denmarks-fromandskorpset-frogman-corps/

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCTw6WNx_-4

    The Sirius Patrol Denmark) Recruitment

    I have a good read on the Aussie and Brits and Kiwis and the Japanese Coast Guard Special Security Teams…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=iHP3Qerw8lc

    Japan Coast Guard SST

    …and the JMSDF Special Boarding Teams (SBT) and a few others.

    I just never worked with the Thais long enough to form an informed opinion.

  23. Before anyone gets the wise idea that I am engaging in any bad @$$ery, give it up. Oh, I’m tough enough to survive the truck trip with the SEALs from White Beach to Kadena and then take the black eye for the privilege of the SEALs allowing me to stay at their place. Lots of countries have units called SEALs. I’m just curious how the Thai SEALs stack up. And I need to tell you that overall I am impressed with the Thai military and naval forces. I just have never met a Thai SEAL.

  25. My work with SPECWAR amounted to passing them crayons so they could do their mission planning on their coloring paper, Just kidding. But not by much.

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