A local expert says divers in Thailand cave dealing with ‘situations that are unpredictable’
Posted Jul 9, 2018 04:23:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Eight of 12 boys have now been rescued from a flooded cave system in northern Thailand.
Another four boys were rescued by divers on Monday.
Officials say they won't try to get the remaining four boys and their coach out until tomorrow.
The 13 were driven far into the cave system after heavy rains flooded the kilometres-long network made up of caverns connected by tight passages.
A local diving expert says cave diving is “stressful”.
“In this particular case, it looks like there is zero visibility. They're diving in water that probably has inches of visibility.” said John VanOstrand, Divemaster at Groundhog Divers in Kitchener.
“They're diving in situations that are unpredictable. Some rain is going to cause current, flow in the cave, might stir up things more.” he told The Mike Farwell Show on 570 NEWS.
He says the divers also have to deal with issues out of the water.
“They're having to climb, there's going to be mud, there's going to be grit, it's going to be dirty. The equipment is going to be all exposed to this and so they're going to have to be careful to make sure that their equipment stays clean and functioning.” added VanOstrand.
He says a cave is an overhead environment, meaning divers could be an hour or more away from surface air.
“That's an unnatural environment for people. Breathing underwater, dealing with visibility issues, dealing with confinement issues…dealing with the narrow restrictions that we've heard about in this Thai cave.”
with files from The Associated Press
