Great news about the boy soccer players.

[lonelywombat]

The official debriefing mentions only 4 boys have emerged and one has been flown by helicopter to hospital.
All in the diiving rescue team are safe
Diving operations has ceased for today
The boys travelled 1km underwater
Rescue operators have announced a 10 hour break before resuming.

live coverage on
https://www.theguardian.com/world/li...pped-boys-live
The rescue has been concluded for the night and will resume in 10-20 hours because “we’ve used all the oxygen,” according to the operation chief.

“Its actually just falling quiet here,” says Dan Johnston on the BBC News Channel. “There’s been a lot of activity in the past few minutes. It looks like people are leaving this site for the night.

“One thing to bear in mind is the tiredness levels of the cave diving exerts who are leading this operation. They have been working busily all day and it looks like some of them are actually leaving the dive site now.

“It looks like they’ve taken the decision that they have done as much as they can for today.”

The operation is set to resume at 8am local time with officials and volunteers buoyed by the fact that their method of rescuing the boys by diving has been successful insofar.

[poshglasgow]

I was sitting by the lake in the gardens of Herstmonceux Castle, Sussex, this afternoon, enjoying the sun and the solitude, thinking of events in Northern Thailand and praying for the safe rescue of the boys when I heard the news that the first group of them had been saved and taken to hospital. Isn't it great when the world's experts pull together to restore our faith in human nature at a time when the the world's politicians seem determined to undermine it?

I won't relax until all of the boys and their coach are out.

Two things will happen I think. The profile of the British, because of the prompt involvement of our experts, will be raised in the minds of the Thais. Second, I suspect that Hollywood moguls are already working on a future film - and what a film it will make! Mister Spielberg where are you?

Great too that the members of SGT pulled together in this thread to share heartfelt sentiments, opinions, links and ideas in a spirit of collective humanity and respect for young lives.

[gerefan2]

Indeed, and I hope, but doubt, the Thai obsession with losing face will be permanently put aside after this episode.
Had they not invited (or been given/offered) outside help the outcome would probably be very different.
Fingers crossed the rest of the boys get out soon.

[cdnmatt]

Great to hear, and fingers crossed for the rest of them.

Was talking about this last night, and here's a prime example of why I enjoyed living in Thailand so much. When they were passing letters, the coach apologized profusely, and felt horrible about what happened. In response, the parents wrote back saying don't worry about, you have nothing to be sorry for, we know you're a great guy and will take care of our kids. That's it, full stop.

Just imagine if this would have happened in North America. Loads of people would be outraged, there would be calls for the coach to be criminally charged and imprisoned, accusations and lawsuits abound, legislature being introduced at local, provincial and federal levels, etc.

In Thailand though, it's simply sometimes bad shit happens, so let's work together to fix it.

[frequent]

Just imagine if this would have happened in North America. Loads of people would be outraged, there would be calls for the coach to be criminally charged and imprisoned, accusations and lawsuits abound, legislature being introduced at local, provincial and federal levels, etc.

Absolutely Matt, couldn't agree more that there's absolutely no sense of personal responsibility for anything in Thailand. As for legislation, the rule of law is so weak in Thailand it would be pointless. Unless of course it's an immigration matter where, as we all know, your sense of responsibility couldn't find its own way home, and the law did prevail

[cdnmatt]

Absolutely Matt, couldn't agree more that there's absolutely no sense of personal responsibility for anything in Thailand. As for legislation, the rule of law is so weak in Thailand it would be pointless. Unless of course it's an immigration matter where, as we all know, your sense of responsibility couldn't find its own way home, and the law did prevail

Yes, we need good laws. Otherwise, how else is the US government supposed to kidnap thousands of kids while assuming virtually no responsibility for them? They don't even know how many kids they kidnapped, let alone where they are or where their parents are. They believe it's under 3000 kids, but aren't quite sure. You even have the DOJ asking the courts, "well, what happens to the kids whose parents we already deported? do we have to give them back too? that seems like a lot of work.".

Yes, strong laws are obviously essential and help oh so much.

[frequent]

Yes, strong laws are obviously essential and help oh so much.

When do you expect to see such a situation in Thailand?

[poshglasgow]

Great to hear, and fingers crossed for the rest of them.

Was talking about this last night, and here's a prime example of why I enjoyed living in Thailand so much. When they were passing letters, the coach apologized profusely, and felt horrible about what happened. In response, the parents wrote back saying don't worry about, you have nothing to be sorry for, we know you're a great guy and will take care of our kids. That's it, full stop.

Just imagine if this would have happened in North America. Loads of people would be outraged, there would be calls for the coach to be criminally charged and imprisoned, accusations and lawsuits abound, legislature being introduced at local, provincial and federal levels, etc.

In Thailand though, it's simply sometimes bad shit happens, so let's work together to fix it.

I couldn't agree more!

[frequent]

I couldn't agree more!

Much as I hate to be the dissenting voice, I've just had a conversation with a Thai where the expressions used were "They should stay there for the four months to teach them a lesson"; "how much money is this costing"; "they're local, they should have known there were warning signs everywhere". I don't buy the argument that no-one in Thailand is outraged - all we're seeing is the feel-good stories entirely focused on the kids and their families. I won't dwell on the comments about the grandstanding by politicians and others

[arsenal]

Following Frequent's argument means no one would be rescued from anywhere. Several years ago a British round-the-world yachtsman had his boat capsized and Australia spent loads rescuing him knowing that when it was the other way round the UK would do the same for one of theirs. It's what civilised countries do.