Soccer Team Trapped In Cave For Up To Four Months

A Thailand soccer team consisting of twelve boys between the ages of eleven and sixteen and their coach are trapped potentially up to four months in a cave. A nightmare for boys between the ages of eleven and sixteen. A dream for a coach. JK. But Kevin Spacey is reconsidering his career path. Seriously, this is a terrifying situation that shares common themes with about half of the horror movies out there, except for unlike in The Descent, you actually want the trapped people to live.

Basically, brilliant Coach Dumbass decided it would be a good idea to take his team spelunking during monsoon season in Thailand. The gang got roughly a half mile below the Earth when flood waters started to rise, and now they’re trapped on a relatively small ledge, with the only way out being narrow submerged tunnels stretching over a mile long. Rescue divers have been able to access the group (with one taking the video below) and plan to bring them food and water. The authorities are also tossing around the idea of delivering diving equipment and teaching the trapped soccer team to escape through the same path that rescuers have already taken. However, the kids say that they don’t know how to swim. So, now would be the time to learn. More floodwaters could be coming any day now, so there’s a bit of a time crunch on the whole operation. Thailand’s armed forces released the statement:

[We will] prepare to send additional food to be sustained for at least four months and train all 13 to dive while continuing to drain the water.

With the Bangkok Post adding:

As rain is forecast in the next few days, the evacuation must speed up. Diving gear will be used. If the water rises, the task will be difficult. We must bring the kids out before then.

Here’s the thing. Why don’t the divers just put the diving masks on the trapped people and lead them out one by one, tandem style? Something called the British Cave Rescue Council is currently diligently working on rescuing the team as all of Thailand, and now the rest of the world, watches, but I can’t help but feel I solved it. Just, carry them out? Someone get me the number for Thailand.

Photo Credit: Getty Images