The Thai cave rescue: success!
All of the boys, as well as their coach, have been rescued:
The 12 Thai soccer players and their coach who have been trapped in a cave in northern Thailand for more than two weeks have all been rescued. “We are not sure if this is a miracle, a science, or what. All the thirteen Wild Boars are now out of the cave,” the Thai Navy SEALs posted on their Facebook page…
Tuesday’s rescue mission succeeded in retrieving the remaining four boys and the coach. The last people to emerge from the cave were a doctor and three members of the Thai Navy SEALs at 10 pm Tuesday local time. The boys are in good overall health, according to Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health.
What an achievement.
“They are forced to do something that no kid has ever done before,” Ivan Karadzic, a diver on the rescue team, told the BBC. “They are diving in something considered an extremely hazardous environment in zero visibility. The only light that is in there is the torch light we bring ourselves.”
The first part of the 2.5-mile journey required wading and diving through the flooded passages, according to ABC Australia. Next came a 1-mile climb over slippery rock, with ropes for assistance…
“I cannot understand how cool these small kids are, you know?” Karadzic said. “Incredibly strong kids. Unbelievable almost.”
However, they had a little help on that:
This was very well-thought-out and well-executed. Bravo!
When I heard the news first thing this morning, I said a prayer of thanksgiving for this outcome. But I did shed some tears for the man who lost his life in the effort.
Guts and technology…
To quote Insty: Well, this *is* the 21st century.
This has something to do with their Buddhist mentality. Stoical attitude to any hardships and hazards is built in this faith, as well as strict discipline and obedience to elders.
This is an incredible outcome. I’m not a terribly emotional man but these kind of things do get to me.
And about those tranquilizers. I saw some people seemed to disapprove of their use. But realistically, anything that improves their odds of survival is alright here. Why did people care so much about tranquilizers.
I know that I would need a tranquilizer or to be fully knocked out to make that trip.
An amazing story with, thank God, a happy ending. I look forward to reading a full account of how it was done. It seems, at least in the initial reports, that the Thai authorities did a good job of using their own resources (the Thai SEALs most prominently), help from foreigners living in Thailand who volunteered and aid from abroad (including the US military).
Fox and Friends had a retired US Navy Seal on to discuss what was going on. He described the situation as the equivalent of sinking two miles of school buses and crawling out by going under the seats in the dark. The idea alone gives me a case of mortfying claustrophobia. I’d take as many pills as possible without being so dopey that I couldn’t follow instructions. What a heroic rescue and congratulations to all the brave men who rescued the boys.
Bravo Zulu to the rescuers. Thanks to all who helped save the boys and their coach. Human ingenuity and courage at work.
What a wonderful ending to this story. The Thai Navy SEALs earned the name hero for the rest of their days. A special RIP to Saman Gunan. I hope he knows all the boys and their coach were rescued.
Neo, if you recall on an earlier comment thread I wondered how Thai SEALs compared to USN SEALs. I didn’t mean that as an insult it’s just that the quality of units that are called special forces vary wildly around the world. For instance when it comes to hostage rescue/counter terrorism operations our Tier 1 units consider it a failure if one hostage is killed during a rescue. Very few units around the world (both military and police as some countries exclusively use police for this mission) train to this level.
I’d put the special forces of the UK, Australia, Germany, and Israel in this category.
Most Special Forces consider a hostage rescue/counter-terrorism operation a success if none of the terrorists escape. Think SPETSNAZ and the Moscow theater hostage crisis. The official tally of hostages killed is about 104; relatives say it’s over 300. But all 40 terrorists were killed so it was a success by rest-of-world standards. The Amena gas facility was a failure. Algerian Special forces succeeded in killing only 3 terrorists out of 32. 39 hostages were killed, but had the other 29 terrorists been killed that would have been acceptable. Instead they escaped.
I only ever worked with conventional Thai forces. But I learned that I’ll never doubt a Thai SEAL’s courage, perseverance, and sheer diving ability. They are heroes all. Bravo Zulu.