Cavers will detail Thai football team rescue in talk
The Shropshire presenters of an imminent talk on the Thai cave rescue of a football team of 12 boys and their coach are currently back in the country exploring and mapping caves and providing rescue training.
Mike Clayton and Emma Porter, of the Midlands Cave Rescue Organisation and from Bridgnorth, will shortly give a talk on the Tham Luang rescue which captured global attention.
Emma said: “The cave rescue in Tham Luang was truly against the odds and we know of no other cave rescue like it in terms of duration, difficulty and of course with so many children involved. The risks were such that we believed that if one child came out alive, it would be a success.”
It took over a week for the young footballers’ location to be discovered, but at that point there was no way to get the boys out safely. It was so dangerous that an experienced Thai Navy Seal diver, Saman Gunan, died in a rescue attempt when taking oxygen to the boys.
Almost every cave rescue team in Britain had some involvement in the Thai cave rescue, and Midlands Cave Rescue had the highest number of key personnel directly involved.
As secretary of the British Cave Rescue Council, Emma was involved from the outset and jointly managed the UK operations for the three week rescue. She provided 24/7 contact with the two lead divers who first went out, liaising with third parties including the Foreign Office and the Thai Embassy.
Strategy
Emma added: “I was providing logistical and operational support to ensure BCRC diving and surface support personnel could safely get out to Thailand and source equipment from all over Europe, together with dealing with the media with the pressure of the world watching.
“Mike was initially supporting me, but was then asked to go to Thailand to act as one of three BCRC surface support personnel for the BCRC cave divers. His role was to liaise with the other agencies on site, including the Thai military, local government officials, US military and Australian government officials.
“In addition, to obtain any equipment the divers required, but mainly to allow the divers to concentrate on the job in hand and develop their rescue strategy.”
As volunteers, Emma and Mike have been providing cave rescue training in Lebanon and Tunisia and have recently returned from helping to set up the Moroccan cave rescue organisation.
Their presentation, ‘The complete story of the Thailand cave rescue,’ will be given at The Clayton Hall, Shrewsbury Colleges Group, London Road campus at 7pm on November 2.
The event is being organised by Shrewsbury Severn Rotary Club and those wishing to attend are asked to mail their names with payment to Rotarian G Watkins, Hillside, Burgs Lane, Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury SY3 0EF.
The cost of the presentation is £15 a head and will include drinks and canapés.
Proceeds are in aid of Midlands Cave Rescue and the League of Friends of the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
