Cave! Underwater! Trapped!

Quote: Wizard

I don't mean to sound heartless, but I was enjoying the coverage of the volcanic eruption in Hawaii until this story.

Yeah . When I first saw the google news item I did not realize that it was a Thai soccer team that was trapped in a Thai cave. Now these religious types and One Worlders don't seem to care, but the old "a dogfight in Brooklyn is more important than a civil war in China" surely applies.

Thai soccer team? They went exploring a cave system, many could not swim. What do they need. A long rope? A tv camera? send out those that can swim one at a time, see if they make it out. whats the big deal here? there are no weather forecasts before they went in? No mapping software? No underwater UAVs?

Why are reporters not doing any backgrounder stories exposing That political corruption, Thai tourist traps, Thai food and beverage poisonings of tourists, Thai street crime, Thai drug laws, etc.

Oxygen levels have dropped to 15%.

Quote: rxwine

Oxygen levels have dropped to 15%.

Unless they can pump some O2 in, that will be the rate limiting factor for how long they can stay there. Young healthy kids can survive for a long time if sedentary in a 15% O2 environment. But the fact that it has dropped from 21% to 15% in the few weeks does not bode well for the next few weeks. It seems like they should make the attempt on either the strongest kid or best swimmer or calmest..... with SCUBA and two expert helpers..... and hope for the best. Assuming a success, they can keep going down the list.

Quote: SOOPOO

Unless they can pump some O2 in, that will be the rate limiting factor for how long they can stay there. Young healthy kids can survive for a long time if sedentary in a 15% O2 environment. But the fact that it has dropped from 21% to 15% in the few weeks does not bode well for the next few weeks. It seems like they should make the attempt on either the strongest kid or best swimmer or calmest..... with SCUBA and two expert helpers..... and hope for the best. Assuming a success, they can keep going down the list.

Well 15% is about 8000' of altitude. Plenty of people live at 8000' for year round. But yes, if it drops to 12% it could be a problem.

Quote: Pacomartin

Well 15% is about 8000' of altitude. Plenty of people live at 8000' for year round. But yes, if it drops to 12% it could be a problem.

Here is a chart of oxygen content by altitude: https://www.higherpeak.com/altitudechart.html.

I've been at 17,000 feet, which has 11%. Granted, I had acclimated but these kids should be acclimating too as the oxygen is going down gradually.

With that rescuer who died, it brings up a delicate question of how far to risk lives to save lives. It is worth weighing into the equation that the group ignored signage about the danger of entering the cave in rainy season.

Trivia time! What city in the US is at the highest altitude? No searching and please put answers in spoiler tags.

Assuming the cave is filling with carbon dioxide, and any other body gases, it wouldn't be the same as high altitude would it?

Quote: rxwine

Assuming the cave is filling with carbon dioxide, and any other body gases, it wouldn't be the same as high altitude would it?

Who's paying for all this rescue work.
It will be millions if it goes to Oct.
Who gets stuck with the bill.

Quote: Wizard

Trivia time! What city in the US is at the highest altitude? No searching and please put answers in spoiler tags.

Quote: terapined

Show Spoiler

Denver with mile high stadium.

Wrong!

Quote: Wizard

Trivia time! What city in the US is at the highest altitude? No searching and please put answers in spoiler tags.

I'm going to guess

I know it's over 7000 ft