'Like being reborn': dramatic rescues that defied the odds
MAE SAE: For days Thailand anxiously followed every twist and turn of a dramatic race against time to find twelve boys and their football coach trapped deep in a cave complex and surrounded by rising monsoon floodwaters.
The search finally ended Monday, with dramatic footage showing the boys — exhausted, mud-caked and rake thin after nine days stranded — crammed onto a wedge of dry ground, some speaking faltering English with the British diving team that found them.
A handout video grab taken from footage released by The Royal Thai Navy shows missing children inside the Tham Luang cave of Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province.
PHOTO:AFP
Now the focus shifts to the arduous task of extracting the group from the winding chambers and narrow passageways of the 10 kilometres long Tham Luang complex.
Rescuers said Tuesday they plan to supply the boys with up to four months’ food while a rescue can be planned, indicating the football team’s stay underground — and their families’ agonising wait on the surface — may not be over just yet.
A family member shows a picture of four of the twelve missing boys near the Tham Luang cave at the Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in Mae Sai
PHOTO:AFP
From miners trapped underground, to sailors trapped underwater, here are some dramatic rescue operations that ended happily despite massive obstacles.
A technian smiles near the drill site at the entrance of Tham Luang cave at the Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in Mae Sai district
PHOTO:AFP
On November 22, 1999, rescuers reached seven men who had been trapped in a cave system in southwest France for 10 days.
The men, all experienced cavers, became trapped in the caves at Vitarelles when heavy storms caused flooding, cutting them off from the exits.
The unprecedented rescue mission riveted France, with experts drilling multiple shafts into the rock in a bid to find the men.
They eventually reached them after squeezing into one of the shafts and following an underground river.
The men had carefully rationed their food and still had enough water and lighting gas for two days when they were rescued. All were in good health.
The seven-man crew of a Russian Priz mini-submarine were running out of air after three days trapped under water when they were finally rescued.
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Their submarine became entangled in marine debris on August 4, 2005, and the Russian crew was powerless to move from the position around 190 metres (625 feet) below the ocean surface.
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In all, their ordeal lasted nearly 70 days.
The rescue operation at the illegal mine was hampered by fears of additional collapses as rescuers dug through rock and soil.
Huddled in an opening 250 metres (800 feet) underground, the men joked and exercised to pass the time and stay positive.
“This moment, it’s like being reborn,” said one of the rescued men after a tearful reunion with his family.
More than 700 emergency personnel worked to rescue Johann Westhauser after he sustained a serious head injury deep inside a German cave system on June 8, 2014.
The 52-year-old was with two other people when a rockfall caused the head injury. One made the hours-long walk back to the surface to raise the alarm, while the other stayed with Westhauser.
His injury made it impossible for him to move, and rescue workers and medical professionals from five countries worked to medically evacuate him from a spot 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) below ground.
In the largest of the operations, 262 people on 15 vessels have been rescued in the Strait of Gibraltar
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Original news : https://tribune.com.pk/story/1748564/3-like-reborn-dramatic-rescues-defied-odds/