It's now a race against time to save the 12 young soccer players trapped in the cave in Thailand. Rescuers are concerned about the drop in oxygen levels, now at 15%, as a commander of the Thai Navy's SEAL divers told local media. Meanwhile, hope is rekindled: a Thai police patrol reported discovering a chimney connecting the outside to the tunnel. Police Inspector General Suchart Teerasawat explained that it's a passage about one meter wide, which police and rescuers will explore to determine if it leads to the cave. If so, it would create the possibility of rescuing the group as early as tomorrow, as many international media have reported, due to the heavy rains forecast for Sunday, which would raise the water level in the cave.
The soccer coach trapped in a cave with 12 Thai boys has apologized to their parents in the first letter he and the team sent via divers who are shuttling between the quarry and the ground. “I want to apologize to the parents,” the 25-year-old coach wrote. “At the moment all the children are fine, the rescuers are taking care of me and I promise that I will take care of the children in the best way possible. Thank you,” he concluded, “for all the support you are offering us.” The boys have also written to their families, saying they are fine but still miss them. The rescuers, meanwhile, have decided that they will not immediately attempt an underwater evacuation because the boys are not yet able to face it. The decision could change, however, if heavy rains start again: in which case an attempt would be made to take the boys away immediately.
Other hypothesized solutions are complicated and dangerous, such as staying in the cave until the water level drops, a scenario that may not be feasible due to the new rains coming and the low amount of oxygen in the tunnels. Another hypothesis is that the children learn to dive with the appropriate equipment, but many do not even know how to swim and the long journey to the exit is at times completely dark, against the current, so the danger is very high. Work is therefore non-stop to try to evacuate them. "At first we thought they could stay for a long time, but the situation has changed, the time to get out is now limited," said the commander, Apakorn Yookongkaew, who is one of the leaders of the crisis cell, adding that rescuers may have little choice given the arrival of the monsoon and the fact that the oxygen in the caves is decreasing. The divers are providing the children with oxygen through a 5-kilometer-long cable that crosses the cave.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has also invited the young Thai footballers to participate in the World Cup final in Russia. “If, as we all hope, the Wild Boars team is reunited with their families in the coming days and their health allows them to travel, FIFA would be happy to invite them to participate in the 2018 World Cup final as its guests,” Infantino wrote in a letter to the head of the Thai Football Association. The fate of the children trapped in the quarry has also affected many international players. “We hope they get out safe and sound,” said England defender John Stones. The Japanese team posted a video on Twitter urging the boys to “Hang in there” while Brazil legend Ronaldo called their situation “terrible.” “The football world hopes that someone can find a way to get these children out of there,” he told CNN.
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