Twelve teenagers and their soccer coach were found trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand Monday, nine days after searching through two and a half miles of caves.
Now they’re left with two options to rescue them, let the floodwaters recede, which could take months, or teach the 12 kids and their coach to scuba dive out of the cave in near-zero visibility.
According to Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Dive Team, both are risky situations.
"Any time you’re dealing with murky conditions, it brings a whole other level of problems," said Sargent Brett Moore from the sheriff’s Dive Team.
Moore has spent the last 10 years with the Elite Sheriff’s Dive Team and has spent months looking for missing teenager Sierra Lamar in murky waters.
"The worst thing you can do in the water is panic," he said.
According to Moore, the zero visibility and the fact that some of the teens don’t even know how to swim makes the rescue extremely dangerous for both the boys and their rescue divers.
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"A lot of times there might be a fight," Moore said. "The person is going to resist until they have to take control and grab that person and bring them to safety."
The Thai divers who will attempt to rescue the teens are Navy Seals, however, Moore said that no matter how much training they have, the ultimate test will come once those divers get the green light to try and carry the kids miles to safety underwater, in darkness.
"It’ll be very difficult," Moore said. "You have to go through the basics of the surface as best you can, and teach somebody how to fight through the panic."
