Sombre mood after diver dies on Thai cave rescue mission
The death of a diver helping the rescue has brought the scale of the operation sharply into focus, says Sky's Sally Lockwood.
Friday 6 July 2018 15:45, UK
The death of a Thai navy seal diver has changed the atmosphere here.
Earlier in the week, there was some semblance of celebration following the news that 12 missing boys and their football coach had been found.
Now, the mood at the cave entrance is sombre.
Former Petty Officer First Class Saman Gunan died as he worked underwater in the cave complex, depositing diving cylinders along a potential exit route.
The water inside the complex is cold and it is hard to see.
There is also debris to navigate. At the narrowest points, divers have to remove their canisters and roll them in front of them.
Until yesterday, the least worst rescue option appeared to be teaching the boys to dive the 4km (2.5 miles) back to the cave entrance.
Now, following the death of Saman Gunan, journalists and volunteers are expressing disbelief that such an operation could even be attempted.
The children, moreover, are likely to be psychologically traumatised after nearly two weeks in darkness.
Their muscles may be weakening after nine days with no nutrition.
That most of them do not swim only adds to this immense task.
Nevertheless, Danish volunteer diver Ivan Karadzic told Sky News he believes a rescue attempt could happen "today or tomorrow".
Monsoon rain is scheduled again from tomorrow when the floodwaters inside the cave will rise again.
To leave the boys and their coach where they are until the end of the monsoon season is a huge risk as the worst storms are still to come.
Thai navy Seal commander Arpakorn Yookongkaew said there was a "limited amount of time" to reach the boys and their coach.
"At first we thought that we could sustain the kids' lives for a long time where they are, but now, many things have changed," he said, without elaborating.
Thai officials in charge of drilling through the cave surface told Sky News they had progressed just 27m in three days.
The group is believed to be about 1000m below ground.
Thus swimming and diving may be the rescue plan that is settled upon.
It is something that few here can bear to contemplate.