The operation to rescue 12 children and their football coach trapped for almost two weeks in a deep cave in northern Thailand took a tragic turn on Friday when a diver died while trying to install oxygen tanks in the cave to prepare the evacuation.
Saman Kunan, 38, a former Thai navy Seal, died due to lack of air while returning from inside the flooded cave.
"Last night we had a tragedy", said the deputy-governor of the northern Chiang Rai province, Passakorn Boonyaluck, to reporters gathered near the sprawling cave entrance. "The rescuer, an ex-naval officer died during his way back from the third chamber. His mission was to bring the air tank into the cave. On his way back in the water, he ran out of oxygen. It made him unconscious and he died".
It was the first death in the long rescue operation, in which around 1,200 people are involved, including many volunteers, and experts from a large number of countries, including the U.K., the U.S., Australia and China.
This death raised doubts about the possibility of teaching the children the basics of diving, in order for them to exit the cave through the way used by the rescuers.
None of the children, aged between 11 and 16 years old, know how to swim.
They were found almost two kilometers (1.2 mile) inside the cave by a team of British divers on Monday evening after staying in the dark without food for nine days .
Time is running out though as strong rains should occur again during the weekend, which will raise the water level within the cave.
A massive pumping operation has been set up for over a week at a rate of 180,000 liters but with no clear results as underground water is filling up the cave.
Water levels have dropped in three large chambers in the cave, but, to be evacuated, the children would still have to cross long and narrow passages under water.
Authorities are also worried about the quickly decreasing levels of oxygen in the cave, because of the large number of rescuers participating in the operation.
Thai rescuers are now pumping oxygen into the underground cave. Authorities also fear predicted monsoon rains this Sunday could re-fill the cave.
An alternative solution could be to evacuate the children and their coach through a deep shaft which has been found in the mountain above and could connect to where the children are now.
"We have found a shaft but we have not explored it completely yet. Officials will sleep there and continue the operation on Saturday," the national parks and forest reserves deputy-director general Jongklai Worapongsathorn told Anadolu Agency.
