A former Thai Navy seal has died during the rescue operation to save 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped inside a flooded cave.
Authorities have confirmed the diver’s death was caused by lack of oxygen, and he died while making his way out of the cave complex where the group is trapped.
The man has been identified as retired Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Saman Kunan who volunteered for the operation after having left his post.
Mr Kunan lost consciousness after placing oxygen tanks in the cave and could not be revived despite first-aid attempts by his dive partner.
Meanwhile, in the first official admission the boys cannot wait out the monsoon season underground until October, authorities have warned the window of opportunity to free them is “limited”.
The cave system in Mae Sai, northern Thailand, is losing oxygen as they continue to try and deliver aid supplies to the kids and coach through a pipe. Authorities say the ventilation pipe must reach them today.
And there is now a “limited amount of time” left and little choice but to attempt the tricky extraction and get the boys out, Thailand’s Navy SEAL commander Arpakorn Yookongkaew said.
The level of oxygen in the cave where the boys are trapped has dropped to 15 per cent. The usual level is around 21 per cent.
“We can no longer wait for all conditions (to be ready) because the circumstance is pressuring us,” Mr Yookongkaew said.
“At first we thought that we could sustain the kids’ lives for a long time where they are now, but now, many things have changed. We have a limited amount of time.”
‘SAD NEWS’
A sombre mood has clouded the elation from earlier in the week when the boys were found dishevelled and hungry but alive on a ledge kilometres inside the cave.
Chiang Rai deputy governor Passakorn Boonyaluck told reporters: “It was sad news, a former SEAL who volunteered to help died last night about 2 am.
“His job was to deliver oxygen (in the cave). He did not have enough on his way back.”
SEAL commander Mr Yookongkaew said Mr Kunan, who was working in a volunteer capacity, was coming back from the spot inside the Thuam Luang cave where the group had been located when his supplies ran short.
“On his way back he lost consciousness,” Mr Yookongkaew said, adding that a friend had tried to help bring him out.
“But even though we have lost one man, we still have faith to carry out our work.”
RESCUERS TO TAKE ‘MORE PRECAUTIONS’
His death raises doubts over the safety of attempting to bring the group out the same way, through cramped passageways deep inside the waterlogged cave.
Many of the boys, aged between 11 to 16, are unable to swim and none has diving experience.
Asked how the boys could make it out safely if an experienced diver could not, Mr Yookongkaew said the rescue team would take more precautions with children.
“We lost one man, but we still have faith to carry out our work,” he said.
The diver’s mission was to bring oxygen tanks and carry lines along the passageways between a forward operating base and the muddy embankment where the children and coach are sheltering.
Even for expert divers, the journey is an exhausting seven-hour round trip.
“It’s very risky (diving out). Think about it, a Navy Seal just passed away last night, so how about a 12-year-old kid,” said Rafael Aroush, an Israeli diver helping the rescue bid.
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Officials vowed to investigate the death, and have sent his body to a local hospital for an autopsy.
The incident marks the first major setback for the rescue effort.
Rescuers continue to work to save the Thai boys and their 25-year-old coach from the flooded cave, but some say they may be too weak to complete the terrifying mission.
It is believed 1.5km of the cave is still full of water. The rescue mission will go on despite the death.
The distance between a rescue base camp inside “chamber three” of the cave complex and where the team is stranded is 1.7km. In order to reach the boys from the base, a diver has to carry at least three oxygen tanks to reach them before replacing the tanks again on the way out.
Two of the boys and the coach are suffering from exhaustion through malnutrition, which could make it almost impossible for them to attempt the perilous journey, a Navy source told CNN.
Skilled cave divers are painstakingly teaching them to swim in preparation for a perilous escape, which involves pairing them with trained frogmen and leading them to safety through pitch-black water and narrow passageways.
Officials confirmed some parts of the journey will be walkable.
Rescuers expect the mission to be completed in stages, with the boys who are well enough removed first and those that are too sick left behind.
It takes even experienced divers six to seven hours to complete the round-trip from forwarding command in the third cave chamber to the boys huddled on a ledge deep inside the complex at Noem Nom Sao. This could mean a fatal delay if anything was to go wrong during the audacious rescue plan.
Engineers are working to install a cable to allow the children to speak to rescuers and their families to improve their morale.
Rescuers have also been transporting food, supplies and first aid into the caves, along with diving equipment to be used by the boys and oxygen “stage” tanks that will be set up every 25 to 50 metres along their route for extra air.
The coach, a former monk who is reported to be struggling after selflessly sacrificing his share of food, could still be charged over the crisis.
Approaching torrential rains also threaten to derail the risky plan to move the boys through the cave system of linked chambers.
The boys’ frightened families are waiting at the cave entrance to be reunited with them.
It is believed the group may have entered as part of an initiation rite, although two mothers came forward to say they did not blame coach Ekkapol Chantawong for their boys’ desperate circumstances.
48 HOURS
Rescuers said on Friday morning the rescue mission needed to be completed within 48 hours.
An anonymous navy source told the ABC three factors were driving the urgency — the water level inside the cave, the amount of oxygen available, and the health of the boys and their coach.
He said rescue co-ordinators faced “tough choices” and differences of opinion were emerging.
Australian Defence Force and Australian Federal Police have been tight-lipped about whether to attempt an extraction or wait, even until the end of the rainy season around October.
The Navy source said boys’ biggest challenge would be a 200m stretch of the completely flooded cave that made up part of the 600m section between “Pattaya Beach” and chamber three.
A firefighter who has been working on draining the water said levels in parts of the passage leading to the chamber were still flooded all the way to the ceiling, making diving the only way out.