13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

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Captain Kirk
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Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

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Great news to hear on return from work. The authorities now need to play hard ball with the media and tell them to back off from the boys until they recover fully and are able to digest everything that they've gone through. There will be many stories to be heard from their accounts of being in the cave but we can all wait a while for that.
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Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

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For what it's worth, ABC News says the parents are planning to send their boys to temples to serve as monks for a few weeks as a form of thanksgiving. This sounds plausible, and probably a good idea.
I think I'm changing my tune on the inadvisability of accepting the invitations from European football clubs to attend their games. It occurs to me that the team would need passports to visit other countries. Some of the boys are currently stateless, but I think the Thai Government would be obligated to issue them passports, thus giving them the proof of citizenship they now lack. That would be a good result, but I'm probably overthinking this. I think Thailand might grant them citizenship anyway.
Jun

Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

Post by Jun »

Captain Swing wrote:Some of the boys are currently stateless

I wonder how often stateless people in Thailand get helicopter transfers to hospital.
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Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

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The latest from ABC, almost too melodramatic to believe, is that after the last Seals who had stayed with the boys were evacuated, and others went in to clear out equipment, the main pump failed. The whole cave began to fill with water and the Seals had to quickly flee for their lives. Disaster had narrowly been avoided. If the boys hadn't already been saved, it would have been hopeless. Incredible, if true.
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Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

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Captain Swing wrote:The whole cave began to fill with water and the Seals had to quickly flee for their lives.
Can you post a link to both that and that some of the boys are stateless? I've looked at all of my sources and I can't find either of those.
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Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

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Gaybutton wrote:
Captain Swing wrote:The whole cave began to fill with water and the Seals had to quickly flee for their lives.
Can you post a link to both that and that some of the boys are stateless? I've looked at all of my sources and I can't find either of those.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/10/worl ... eless.html

"Three of the trapped soccer players, as well as their coach, Ekkapol Chantawong, are stateless ethnic minorities, accustomed to slipping across the border to Myanmar one day and returning for a soccer game in Thailand the next".

I sometimes have trouble linking to the NY Times. If the link doesn't work, you can probably Google the article:

"Stateless and Poor, Some Boys in Thai Cave Had Already Beaten Long Odds"--The New York Times

As for the failing pump, I saw that report "with my own eyes" on the ABC Evening News, but I also can't find a reference online. It may or may not have been bullshit. I'm watching an ABC Special about the rescue right now. They may confirm it, or pretend they never said it.
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Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

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Captain Swing wrote:"Stateless and Poor, Some Boys in Thai Cave Had Already Beaten Long Odds"--The New York Times
Thank you. According to the article the so-called stateless boys are not really completely stateless as most would think. Apparently they are Shan boys. They get to live in Mae Sai, although sometimes Thailand restricts their travel within the country. But they can get passports. I know a couple Shan boys and they have Thai passports. I've seen them.

For those who don't know, the Shan state is in Myanmar, bordering Thailand at Mae Sai. Many reside in Thailand because they can make more money in Thailand and because of the way Myanmar treats ethnic and religious minorities.

In any case, I have a feeling Thailand will grant them virtually whatever status they want. I doubt Thailand would want to see headlines saying any of these boys have been deported, or are being denied passports to be able to travel to countries they have been invited to, or any other negative publicity about how they are being treated.
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Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

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The ABC News Special repeated the report that the pump failed, but they didn't make too much of it. Perhaps the earlier report exaggerated the importance of it. The first report was just 3 hours or so ago, so maybe other sources haven't picked up on it yet, or maybe it just isn't that newsworthy. Also, this Special suggested that one family was planning to send their boy to a temple to be a monk, quite a different story than the earlier report that all of them were.
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Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

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Captain Swing wrote:The ABC News Special repeated the report that the pump failed
If the pump failed, but everybody was out in time, that might be a good thing. Once everybody was out, why continue pumping out the water? Also, if the cave is refilling, that would prevent the inevitable idiots from being able to enter the cave.

I hope Thailand gates and locks the entrance and opens it only when it is assured to be safe inside, if it would even be wise to ever open it again at all.
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Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

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Gaybutton wrote:Once everybody was out, why continue pumping out the water?
Agreed. I think the point was that there were SEAL teams in there at the time who were removing the equipment no longer needed. There must be tons and tons of it and it would be nice if they didn't leave it there. It was these "removal" teams who were (allegedly) in danger when the pump failed.
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