Perilous Cave Rescue In Thailand

There are 2 topics dominating the news globally right now are:

• The World Cup
• The cave rescue of the 12 soccer players and their coach in Thailand

I’m most interested in the second topic. The world is captivated by one of the most difficult and daring rescues ever attempted.

The expression, “You got yourself into this mess. You need to get yourself out of it.,” doesn’t apply. The team cannot self-rescue.

I’m a highly-trained recreational SCUBA diver. I am certified in both Advanced and Rescue diving. I would not attempt to dive in the conditions these rescuers find themselves in—I am not fit enough nor am I comfortable in a cave diving situation. I want to know I have access to the surface when I’m diving.

The Thai cave diving situation features very strong currents, extremely low (or no) visibility and the need to remove one’s SCUBA tank to fit through several very narrow passageways. Any of these factors will get your heart pumping hard and can cause a diver to inhale a tank of air quite rapidly. This factor may have contributed to the death of one of the rescue divers.

The less comfortable you are in a diving situation, the more air you consume. In a stressful situation, you do what you can to slow (or control) your air consumption. The rescue divers likely learned from the death of their colleague and that undoubtedly helped improve the rescue strategy. He did not die in vain.

As I write this, 4 soccer players have been rescued. I’m so grateful that this was able to happen. It was only possible due to careful planning and superior execution of the strategy developed.

I will continue to pray for all involved in this rescue operation. Godspeed!

Thought for the week:

“Treat failure as a lesson on how not to approach achieving a goal, and then use that learning to improve your chances of success when you try again. Failure is only the end if you decide to stop.” – Sir Richard Branson