Personnel, equipment deployed to rescue trapped boys in flooded cave

CHIANG RAI, June 26 (TNA) – Personnel and equipment such as a diving robot and thermal camera drones have been deployed to support all-out search operation to rescue the coach and 12 young football players, trapped inside a flooded cave in Chiang Rai since Saturday. The Royal Thai Air Force’s disaster relief center sent 13 officials of the Center of Excellent for Astronautical and Marine Engineering, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok to the cave along with one diving robot and two thermal camera drones to support the rescue effort. Sawangthit Srikitsuwan, head of the research center said the remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) with the sonar sensor will be used to survey the flooded cave condition to open the way for the navy’s divers. The ROV can work continuously for about 2-3 hours. Meanwhile, the drones, outfitted with thermal cameras and sensors will fly over the mountain to check for the movement of humans in an attempt to locate the missing boys. To facilitate the rescue teams, the royal irrigation department has dispatched nine electric and diesel power pumps to drain water from the cave as the continuous rain remains an obstacle to the search operation. (TNA)