The reason Thai teenagers have to be stretched when they are rescued from the cave

The rest of the children in the stretcher makes it easy for divers to manipulate in a narrow space and can adjust the source of oxygen when needed.

Thailand's SEAL task force yesterday announced the first images of the rescue operation of teenagers stuck in Tham Luang cave. The video, over 5 minutes long, shows Thai agents and foreign divers using pulleys, ropes and rubber tubes to pull two stretchers through jagged crags.

The task of passing hand and hand holding the teenagers in Tham Luang cave.

The video was released at the time of the rescue of 13 Wild Pig team members who were successful, but the Thai kept the secret of the rescue operation to the point that international experts still wondered how they could do it. move inexperienced teens to swim through such cramped and cramped caves.

The rescue plan published by the Thai authorities earlier showed that each boy would be escorted by two divers during the dive through the flooded caves. But some experts say that this approach is almost impossible, because they have just gotten used to scuba diving equipment a few days ago, so diving in such a cramped dark environment is very difficult, even when supported by a professional diver. Just a minute of panic, you can harm your life and the divers around.

The rescue plan for young men swimming with divers was previously announced by Thai authorities.(Graphic: StraitsTimes).

After a day of silence before many speculations, a former SEAL operative in the rescue campaign finally spoke up, revealing that the boys did not have to swim, but almost fell asleep or drowsy when bundled. in the stretcher and passed by divers to move in the cave, according to AFP.

"Some of them slept, the rest shook their hands as if they were fainting, but they all breathed normally," said Lieutenant Colonel Chaiyananta Peeranarong, one of the last divers to leave Tham Luang Cave when the rescue campaign ended. July 10, said yesterday.

Chaiyananta said that many doctors were arranged along the dark tunnels of Tham Luang cave and constantly checked the heart rate and health status of the boys through each stage."My job is to move the boys from this stage for those who are waiting in the next stage , " he said. "The children are tightly packed in stretchers when being transferred like that."

Lieutenant Colonel Chaiyananta did not specify whether the 25-year-old coach Ekkapol Chantawong had to be stretched like a boy or could he dive and walk away from the cave.

Derek Anderson, a 32-year-old rescue specialist from the US Air Force stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and went to Thailand to join the rescue on June 28, said how "bundles" of boys in such stretchers helped Divers can control them easily and can adjust oxygen supply when needed.

The journey of escaping from the cave, which lasts for many hours, passes through the narrow caves, so what the most needed rescue force is the boys keep calm, do not panic and struggle. The Thai Prime Minister said the teenagers were given a mild tranquilizer so they wouldn't panic, enabling divers to work. He denied the information that the children were drugged.

A stretcher was taken by rescuers to the door of Tham Luang cave on July 10.(Photo: AFP).

The boys were dressed in tight diving suits from head to toe and wore a special mask that always guaranteed positive pressure for the wearer. Anderson explains that this positive pressure mask is a vital element in the rescue campaign. When the boys are pushed by the diver through a narrow alley, their masks may be shuffled, causing the water to pour in, but the positive pressure in the mask will immediately push the water out, helping them not to choke.

Rescue campaign "has a lifetime"

Anderson said that the rescue of teenagers and coaches stuck in cave Tham Luang for 18 days was a difficult and challenging campaign that international professional divers could hardly experience the second time in their lives.

According to him, the first factor determining the success of the campaign is the incredible resilience of the boys and their coaches as well as their "living and dying together" will , in a harsh environment. beyond imagination.

When visiting Tham Luang in the pouring rain on June 28 to take part in the rescue operation proposed by the Thai government, Anderson's American team initially thought that this was just a normal rescue. , not too complicated.

"The cave is quite dry when we walk in, but only an hour and a half later, the water has risen to almost a meter so we have to retreat," Anderson recalls. "It was just the beginning of the cave and now we realize that the problem is more complicated than I thought."

Derek Anderson, a rescue specialist from the US Air Force.(Photo: AP).

According to the expert, the first two attempts to find boys who failed because of the cold and fast flowing water caused divers to pass through narrow niches. When floodwaters recede, divers can begin to carry out equally arduous activities such as spreading rescue belts in the cave.

"With this form of rescue in the cave, you have to spread a rope along the path, which is your life. You have to make sure that when you enter a certain corner, there is always a rope to tell you the exit. " , Anderson explained. "The wiring has progressed, but it also makes the divers exhausted when only 40-50 meters of wire can be sprayed in 5-6 hours."

British diver John Volanthen found the boys while he was spreading the string. When the wire was out of range, he was forced to emerge in a cave and was stunned to find 13 pairs of eyes staring at him. If Volanthen's rope is about 3 meters short, he will probably turn around and never find the children.

Anderson said the rescue plan by letting teens go out in the main way is decided when it rains and the effort to pump water out of the cave is effective. With millions of liters of water being sucked out, in Tham Luang cave has formed many important air bags to help this rescue plan become feasible.

At that time, the oxygen level in the cave was severely reduced, making the plan of waiting for the end of the rainy season threaten the boys' long-term viability, Anderson said.

Divers have practiced this rescue plan in a pool with the participation of local children of the same height and weight with 12 young players of the Wild Pig team. This experimental activity shows that rescuing them with stretchers can be successful.

The first rescue was conducted on Sunday with the first four members of the team being rescued. The next four boys were rescued on Monday and the campaign ended July 10 with the remaining five members of the Wild Pig team being successfully rescued.

Anderson said that there were hundreds of people in the cave to carry out each rescue, in which each boy was supported by dozens of people to overcome a total of nine dangerous passages.

An overview of 18 days of searching, saving the trapped teenagers.

In some sections, the boys were pulled away by two divers, but in narrow crevices, their stretchers were only wired to a diver to sidestep. To the sections of the cave that are not fully submerged, the child's stretcher is "floated" with the help of four rescue workers. Some sections are completely dry, but rescue forces must carry stretchers over rough, steep terrain.

"We had to set up rope and pulley systems to be able to put stretchers through large underground chambers , " Anderson said.

Oxygen cylinders arranged along the cave are pumped with oxygen at the rate of 80% oxygen instead of normal air."This helps increase oxygen saturation levels for children, which is very good for their mental state , " he explained.

With the level of complexity and difficulty of such a task, Anderson said the rescue force was extremely lucky to successfully implement the campaign."It is important for us to recognize the complexity of the task as well as to assemble the smallest details in a big plan , " the seasoned rescue specialist said. "If you lose your temper even a little in such an environment, a lot of bad consequences will happen."