This Thai cave rescue "choke point" video is stunning. It's a miracle they even found them,

[catbyte]

much less being able to bring them out one by one. Stunning. Then Asshole Donnie attempts to take credit for the rescue. Of course he does. Everything is all about him.

Link to tweet

#ThailandCaveRescue has begun. Rescue operation could go on for 3-4 days depending on weather.
This “choke point” seems very tough to traverse. 15 inches wide, in the dark, uphill, and wet.

Wish them all Good Luck & Strength.

Link to tweet

The U.S. is working very closely with the Government of Thailand to help get all of the children out of the cave and to safety. Very brave and talented people!
9:14 AM - Jul 8, 2018

[sprinkleeninow]

1. 'His' not fully baked utterances. 🤥 Embarrassing. eom

[Kittycow]

2. If there was 12 fatalities, he wouldn't say a word.

[virgogal]

3. You said Trump tried to take credit----nothing that you posted implies

that.

[B2G]

10. Agree.

I read that as crediting the rescuers involved.

[Tipperary]

31. Yesterday and the day before there were several threads complaining he had NOT said anything!

I hate him as much as the next person, but jeez, people need to be consistent lol.

I read it the same way you did.

[catbyte]

11. I haven't read that there are any Americans on scene. There are Thai, British, & Aussie

divers. He's inserting the US, and by extension himself, into this as much as he can.

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. There are some Americans, including in the cave divers

A team of more than 30 U.S. military personnel from the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, including pararescue and survival specialists, arrived at the site late on Wednesday local time, NPR reported. Officials from INDOPACOM would not specify to USNI News which units were sent to assist Thai search and rescue efforts from Okinawa, but the U.S. Air Force’s 31st Rescue Squadron and 33rd Rescue Squadron are based at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.
...
Two BCRC divers found the team. A team of divers, which was led by the Royal Thai Navy SEALs and also included Americans and Australians, ferried diving bottles and other supplies inside the cave complex to set up supply depots, according to the BCRC.

https://news.usni.org/2018/07/03/u-s-military-on-site-to-assist-thai-rescue-efforts-of-missing-soccer-team

[virgogal]

30. Of course there are Americans on the scene.

[Tipperary]

32. Yes, there are Americans on scene.

[lapfog_1]

4. now imagine doing that with the tunnel flooded

pushing an air tank in front of you, keeping the regulator in your mouth and trying not to get tangled in stuff, and trying to fight a current.

On another thread I've stated that as a certified cave diver, dive master, dive instructor... I've done something like this once and would not choose to do it again willingly.

They have pumped enough water out to clear this choke point... but it's raining again.

Let's all keep our fingers and toes crossed... they are saying 11 hour round trip to get to the boys and get them out.

[Ikeoftheprairie]

29. nightmare

I used to scuba, a lot, but never dove caves (nope, just couldn't do it). The thought of pushing my tank ahead of me in zero-vis through a twisting passage gives me the heebie-jeebies.

[pangaia]

5. I get claustrophobia just looking at the video..

[hamsterjill]

6. Thoughts and prayers because that's all I've got

I cannot imagine being a trapped soul, the parent of someone trapped down there, or a rescuer or rescuer’s family member. Heart wrenching.

I send light and hope, thoughts and prayers, and all things positive that all make it out. I know one diver has already lost his life. My sympathies to his friends and family.

Heroes. All of ‘em!!

[demmiblue]

7. Though that is not the actual cave...

I can't even begin to imagine how terrifying this is.

[catbyte]

12. They said that the choke point is the approximate width of this video & that's one of the

reasons this is so daunting.

[Quixote1818]

8. That video is previous video from caver Keith Edwards

I guarantee you that a bunch of soccer kids didn't go through that.

[catbyte]

13. The choke point is 15 inches wide, which is about this width. The place they entered is

inaccessible due to flooding. They didn't come in this way, but it's the only way to get them out.

[Quixote1818]

18. Actually the choke point is 24 inches by 30 inches

That is extremely narrow, too narrow for scuba gear but I am 170 lbs and I my waste is about 10 by 15 so it's not like a cork in a bottle the way the video makes it look. You could fit two of me in that space. Still scary as hell.

Snip: Some passages are excruciatingly narrow — as small as 2 feet by 2½ feet, Mr. Reymenants said. But the circumstances compelled him to explore the cave in a way that was risky even for a professional who had dived in dangerous spots across the globe, he said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/world/asia/thai-cave-rescue-divers.html

This has a nice 3D model of the cave with cross-section.

https://globalnews.ca/video/4318377/3d-model-of-thailands-tham-luang-cave-complex

[Ligyron]

21. I figured those kids never could have gone through all that.

Rappelling down a cliff face at one point? I swear, some cavers are brave, crazy or both.

[Quixote1818]

28. Can you imagine someone being claustrophobic having to do that?

I got watching some of these videos a few months back and came across this one which is terrifying:

[hedda_foil]

9. How in the world did they get 3 miles into the cave in the first place?

[Baitball Blogger]

15. Something does not make sense here.

There must have been another way in. Probably submerged by the rising waters.

[W_HAMILTON]

16. But then couldn't the divers have simply taken that route?

This thread had made me a little confused by it all now......

[Baitball Blogger]

17. It's [robably confusing because the route you access on foot is very different

than the one that is available when you're submerged and can skiff across the cave ceiling.

They're just lucky the veins all made it to the same destination.

[W_HAMILTON]

25. But -- even if filled with water -- wouldn't you be able to dive the route accessed by foot?

I haven't really had any experience with this sort of thing so I don't know for sure. Maybe if they tried to dive the same route that the kids walked, there wouldn't be enough "air pockets" or something like that to be able to reach them with the amount of oxygen they have? I don't know, but I'm interested in finding out now. Even if the path the kids took was completely submerged in water, it seems like you could still scuba dive through it to get them, and it seems like that path would be much less treacherous than the one they are using now, but I'm sure they know much more about it than me, so, there must be a reason...but what is it?

[Quixote1818]

20. First of all the video is not real video from the cave

Likely what occured is the kids went part way in and then it started to flood blocking the way they came and forcing them to go deeper and through some areas that were only a couple of feet wide but they had no choice. Then those areas flooded pushing them deeper to where they found the higher ground.

On edit: It shows here that they were forced through the narrow spot because of the rising waters:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/07/06/world/asia/thai-cave-rescue.html?action=click&module=Ribbon&pgtype=Article

[sl8]

14. Video appears to be made in England and Wales.

Last edited Sun Jul 8, 2018, 03:27 PM - Edit history (2)

Caving Claustrophobia Kill or Cure

Keith Edwards

Published on Mar 19, 2016

It's a myth that all caves are tight, muddy and squalid, but unfortunately a lot of them are!
Featuring members of Dudley Caving Club negotiating very confined spaces and some of the tightest squeezes in caves in England and Wales. Filmed between 2010 and 2015.

...

[Rorey]

23. I can confidently state I'll never go into another cave

I did the Cave of the Winds thing here in Colorado. I was proud of myself for not freaking out, but I'm never doing it again. Of course there was no water, and we could walk through most of it. The hands and knees part was difficult for me. I could never bear to have to squeeze through spaces like they do in this video.

[Blue_true]

33. I once went down a passage where the ceiling was 6 inches above my face.

Truly not a situation that I want to be in again. You realize that it is keep moving to a better location, or panic and likely die.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. You couldn't pay me enough to do that kind of caving.

I freak out a bit just thinking about it.

[Duppers]

37. Same here. nt

[Rorey]

22. A living nightmare

Claustrophobia is possibly my worst phobia.

[Afromania]

26. If I didn't have it before I might now. That whole thing gave me the heebie jeebies.

[Blue_true]

34. Actually, if you are in a situation where you have no choice but overcome it, you will.

Nothing focuses the mind like a stake choice.

[Fla Dem]

24. I sincerely hope they all get out safely; the boys, coach and rescuers. What an ordeal

Having said that. I just have to ask, Why in the world would one adult lead a group of young boys into such a dangerous place. At some point did he not realize the risk? He'll have some answering to do once they all hopefully are safe.

[Blue_true]

35. Bad choice on the adult's part, especially with signage around giving warnings.

My guess is the adult will be better off leaving Thailand if he gets out alive.

After this is over, the government should dynamite that cave and permently seal it.

[tblue37]

36. Those kids were thin to begin with, and after 9 days with virtually no food, they're even thinner.

I hope that at least this will make it easier for them to negotiate those tight spaces.