MEDIA BRIEFING NOTE – 2nd briefing today – 7 July 2018
Further deployment of British cave rescue divers to Thailand
The BCRC describes the reason for the further deployment of cave rescue divers to northern Thailand today, following the development in the rescue plans announced at the press conference held on the evening of 6th July by the Thai authorities in charge of the rescue operation at Tham Luang Nang Non Cave.
Update for teams and media compiled 21:00h BST, Saturday 7 July 2018
Late last night during the press conference to the gathered media held at the entrance of Tham Luang Nang Non Cave, the Governor of Chiang Mai Province, Narongsak Osottanakorn, announced a ‘back up plan’ to dive out the 12 boys and their football coach should the monsoon rains resume before other options could be used to rescue them, situated 2.5 km inside Tham Luang Nang Non Cave. The Governor explained that a re-evaluation of the boys’ situation had led the rescue authorities to conclude that they could not stay in the cave throughout the monsoon season.
In anticipation of this back-up plan, the British Cave Rescue Council received a further request for more expert cave divers from the Thai Government.
BCRC can confirm that three more cave divers have been sent to Thailand and when they arrive, the total UK team will consist of seven experienced cave divers and three non-divers in support to deal with communications into the cave and to provide general support.
It is important to appreciate that the UK cave divers continue to work alongside the Thai Navy SEAL divers and a combination of cave divers and open water divers from many other nations.
Point of contact:
Please direct any enquiries about the cave rescue operation to: comms@caverescue.org.uk or visit BCRC on the newly created FaceBook page (www.facebook.com/BritishCaveRescueCouncil/).
PDF – BCRC Media Briefing Report 7
Briefing prepared by BCRC Officers, 7 July 2018.