MAE SAI, Thailand The rescuers trying to help a youth soccer team stranded in a Thai cave suffered a disheartening loss Friday with the death of a former SEAL diving in the flooded passageways to deliver supplies, as authorities raced against worsening weather and lessening oxygen where the 12 boys and their coach have been trapped for two weeks.
“We can no longer wait for all conditions (to be ready) because circumstances are pressuring us,” Thai SEAL commander Rear Adm. Arpakorn Yookongkaew told a news conference. “We originally thought the boys can stay safe inside the cave for quite some time, but circumstances have changed. We have limited amount of time.”
Oxygen levels are decreasing because of the amount of workers inside the cave and workers were trying to run an oxygen line into the chambers in addition to the oxygen canisters used by divers, Chiang Rai province Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn had said late Thursday.
A senior army commander, Maj. Gen. Chalongchai Chaiyakam, said the most pressing mission is the oxygen line. It is tied to a telephone line to provide a channel of communication for the kids, who are stuck deep in the complex but are being looked after by four SEALs, including a medic.
The boys, aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach went exploring in the cave after a soccer game June 23. Monsoon flooding cut off their escape and prevented rescuers from finding them for almost 10 days as the only way to reach them was by navigating dark and tight passageways filled with muddy water and strong currents.
Authorities have been racing to pump out water from the cave before more storms raise the water level again. At this time though, diving is the only possible method of escape, even though cave rescue experts warn it is extremely dangerous even for those with experience.
The death of former Thai navy SEAL Saman Gunan underscored those risks. The diver, the first fatality of the rescue effort, was working in a volunteer capacity and died during an overnight mission in which he was placing oxygen canisters along the route divers use to reach the children, Arpakorn said.
The strategically placed canisters allow divers to stay underwater for longer during what is about a five-hour trip to reach the stranded team.
While underwater, the rescuer passed out and efforts to resuscitate him failed, Arpakorn said. Some officials said his collapse was due to his oxygen supply running out, but the cause of his collapse was not confirmed.
“Despite this, we will continue until we accomplish our mission,” Arpakorn said.
The governor has said the 13 may not be extracted at the same time, depending on their condition. They boys are weak but for the most part physically healthy. They’ve practiced wearing diving masks and breathing, in preparation for the diving possibility.
Officials prefer to get the boys out as soon as possible because heavy rain is expected by Saturday.
They are hoping an upgraded draining effort can lower the water in an area where it is still at or near the ceiling. The idea is to get some headroom so the boys would not be reliant on scuba apparatus for a long stretch and could keep their heads above water.
Cave rescue experts have said it could be safest to simply supply the boys where they are, and wait for the flooding to subside. That could take months, however, given that Thailand’s rainy season typically lasts through October. And without proper oxygen levels, staying put could also prove deadly.
The dramatic rescue efforts have garnered international attention, perhaps most notably at soccer’s most widely watched event, the World Cup, being played in Russia. A diver who spent time with the boys said earlier the youngsters wanted to know the results of the matches. Players from teams including England and Sweden have recorded good luck video messages for the trapped boys, and FIFA has invited the 13 to the World Cup final should they be rescued in time and are healthy enough to travel.
The effort has also brought international assistance including US military personnel and the British cave-divers who first found the boys on Monday. The latest was Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind the Tesla automobile and the SpaceX rocket company, who said he would send engineers to help. One of his enterprises is Boring Co, which digs tunnels for advanced transport systems and has advanced ground-penetrating radar. Musk also brainstormed on Twitter about possible technology for a safe evacuation, suggesting that an air tunnel constructed with soft tubing like a Bouncy Castle could provide flexible passage out.
Thais fight water and oxygen levels in cave as diver dies
Thais fight water and oxygen levels in cave as diver dies
Brown University shooting leaves students, community frustrated with official response
- On Sunday, officials released a person of interest without charges, leaving investigators scrambling for new leads
- The FBI and Providence police have released footage but have not identified the suspect. Students and community members are frustrated by security gaps
PROVIDENCE: The ongoing effort to find a man who walked onto Brown University ‘s campus during a busy exam season and shot nearly a dozen students in a crowded lecture hall has raised questions about the school’s security systems and the urgency of the investigation itself.
A day after Saturday’s mass shooting, officials said a person of interest taken into custody would be released without charges, leaving investigators with little actionable insight from the limited security video they had recovered and scrambling to develop new leads.
Law enforcement officials were still doing the most basic investigative work two days after the shooting that killed two students and wounded nine, canvassing local residences and businesses for security camera footage and looking for physical evidence. That’s left students and some Providence residents frustrated at gaps in the university’s security and camera systems that helped allow the shooter to disappear.
“The fact that we’re in such a surveillance state but that wasn’t used correctly at all is just so deeply frustrating,” said Li Ding, a student at the nearby Rhode Island School of Design who dances on a Brown University team.
A petition for increased security
Ding is among hundreds of students who have signed a petition to increase security at school buildings, saying that officials need to do a better job keeping the campus secure against threats like active shooters.
“I think honestly, the students are doing a more effective job at taking care of each other than the police,” Ding said.
Kristy dosReis, chief public information officer for the Providence Police Department, said that at no point did the investigation stand down even after officials appeared to have a breakthrough in the case, detaining a Wisconsin man who they now believe was not involved.
“The investigation continued as the scenes were still active. Nothing was cleared,” said dosReis.
Police and the FBI on Monday released new video and photographs of a man they believe carried out the attack. The man wore a mask in the footage captured before and after the attack.
Investigation is ‘painstaking work’
FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Ted Docks said a $50,000 reward was being offered for information that would lead to the identification, arrest and conviction of the shooter.
Docks described the investigation, including documenting the trajectory of bullets at the shooting scene, as “painstaking work.”
“We are asking the public to be patient as we continue to run down every lead so we can give victims, survivors, their families and all of you the answers you deserve,” Docks told reporters.
A lack of campus security footage
While Brown University is dotted with cameras, there were few in the Barus and Holley building, home of the engineering school that was targeted.
“Reality is, it’s an old building attached to a new one,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha told reporters about the lack of cameras nearby.
The lack of campus footage left police seeking tips from the public.
Katherine Baima said US marshals came to her door on Monday, seeking footage from a security camera pointing toward the street.
“This is the first time any of us in my building, as far as I know, had heard from anyone,” Baima said.
Students said the school’s emergency alert system kept them relatively well-informed about the presence of an active shooter. But they were uncertain what to do during a prolonged campus lockdown.
Chiang-Heng Chien, a 32-year-old doctoral student in engineering, hid under desks and turned off the lights after receiving an alert about the shooting at 4:22 p.m. Saturday in a campus lab.
“While I was hiding in the lab, I heard the police yelling outside but my friends and I were debating whether we should open the door, since at that moment the shooter was believed to be (nearby),” he said in a text.
Experts say colleges can be at disadvantage when it comes to security
Law enforcement experts say colleges are often at a disadvantage when responding to threats like an active shooter. Their security officers are typically less trained and paid less than in other law enforcement departments. They also don’t always have close partnerships with better-resourced agencies.
Often, funding for campus police departments is not a top priority, even for schools with ample resources, said Terrance Gainer, a former Illinois law enforcement official who later served as the US Senate’s sergeant-at-arms.
“They just aren’t as flush in law enforcement as you would think. They don’t like a lot of uniformed presence, they don’t like a lot of guns around,” said Gainer, who is now a consultant. “Whether it’s Brown or someone else, a key question is, what type of relationship do they have with the local police department?”
At Utah Valley University, where conservative leader Charlie Kirk was assassinated by a shooter on a school building roof last summer, the undersized campus police department never asked neighboring agencies to assist with security at the outdoor Kirk event that attracted thousands, an Associated Press review found.
Changes in Providence’s alert system
Providence has an emergency alert system, but it switched from a mobile app to a web-based system in March. The new system requires someone to register online to receive alerts — something not all residents knew.
Emely Vallee, 35, lives about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from Brown with her two young children. She said she received “absolutely nothing” in alerts. She relied instead on texts from friends and the news.
Vallee had expected to be notified through the city’s 311 app, but hadn’t realized that Mayor Brett Smiley phased out the app in March. Smiley said his administration sent out multiple alerts the day of the shooting using the new 311 system and has continued to send them.
Hailey Souza, 23, finished her shift at a smoothie shop just off-campus minutes before the shooting. Everything seemed normal and quiet, Souza said.
But driving home, she saw a boy bleeding on the sidewalk. “Then everyone started running and screaming,” she said. Souza said she saw a bystander rip off his T-shirt to help.
The shop Souza manages, In The Pink, is a block from the engineering building. One of the shooting victims, Ella Cook, was a regular at the store, Souza said. Cook had come in a few days earlier and said her last final was Saturday.
Souza later learned that police came by the store to tell her co-workers about an active shooter. But Souza never received an emergency alert. “Nothing,” she said.
