Entering the Thai cave: inherently risky
This is one of the better articles I’ve seen describing the inherent risks of the cave rescue in Thailand.
And if you (like me) wonder why the coach and the boys went into the caves under these conditions, you’re not alone:
The Tham Luang Nang Non caves are known locally as off-limits, a dangerous place where parents warn their children not to go into, especially during monsoon season.
“I was very worried about what would happen to them. The caves are a dark and scary place. I wouldn’t dare to ever go in there,” says 14-year-old Kittichoke Konkaew, whose close friend, Nuttawut Takumsong, is among the 12 young teammates and their coach who inexplicably defied local warnings and wandered deep into the cave.
Reports are that it was some sort of initiation that the group cooked up, a kind of dare gone bad:
The 12 Thai footballers who have been found alive deep in a cave may have ventured in as part of an initiation, one of the divers who helped locate them has said.
The boys, aged 11 – 16, reportedly went into the Luang Nang Non Cave with their 25-year-old coach in an effort to write their names on the walls.
They were “wading in and trying to go to the end of the tunnel, sort of like an initiation for local young boys to… write your name on the wall and make it back,” Ben Reymenants told Sky News.
This makes a certain amount of sense as an explanation. Kids—and especially boys of that age, but kids in general—like to dare each other and do risky things. In a group, individuals will often take risks they wouldn’t have taken had they been alone. They egg each other on, and no one wants to appear to be a fraidy-cat in front of the others.
I did some risky things as a child in a group, after being dared, things I would never ever have done had I been by myself. Fortunately, none of those things resulted in anything other than a scary experience and an upsetting memory.
That explains the kids. What about the idiot coach?
Yes, the rescuer’s death rests upon that coach’s stupid and irresponsible actions.
KLSmith Says:
July 6th, 2018 at 4:57 pm
That explains the kids. What about the idiot coach?
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Some 25-year-olds are younger than others.
It seems to me, as well, that the responsibility for this whole mess–including the death of the rescuer–rests squarely on the shoulders of the supposedly adult coach, who allowed the boys to venture into what was known to be a dangerous cave system, particularly in the rainy season.
Mr. Pine I agree coach shares a lot of responsibility. Now, maybe you think that makes me a coward. But I wouldn’t have done it. I want to slap the man. Back handed. He got 12 boys killed. Being only 25 is no excuse. Or however old he was. No excuse.
Yes, I could see the kids doing it as a dare – further, I could see the couch thinking that the kids are going to go on their own even if the adults tell them not to. So, the coach might have been thinking the kids would be safer if he went with them to make sure they didn’t go too far.
So far, since the kids ARE alive I’d say, if that is what the coach was thinking, then he did the right thing.
Maybe it was the coach who got all the kids to higher ground in the cave when the flooding started? Maybe, if the coach wasn’t there this would have become (knock on wood) a body recovery instead of a rescue?
But, truth be told, I’m not there, I don’t have all the information – so who am I to judge or call the coach an “idiot”?
Even so, I’d be willing to bet the coach feels real bad about getting those kids into such a dangerous situation.
I don’t see any women among the rescuers. I guess there are some uses for toxic masculinity.
Ditto for all those fires in the West.