Two Dutch women and twenty other tourists have been rescued from a flooded cave in southern Thailand.
The group of tourists should never have been in the cave, because it is closed due to the rainy season, which runs from June to November. Many caves are closed due to the risk of flooding.
According to the Thai newspaper The Bangkok Post, the tourists were lucky not to have been swept away by the water currents in the Nam Talu caves.
This is a large cave located in the popular Khao Sok National Park, about 500 kilometers south of Bangkok. The cave is 600 meters long and is known for its unique rock formations, stalactites and stalagmites.
Guide drowned
One of the group’s guides fared less well and drowned as a result of the sudden rise in water level. A strong stream of water knocked the guide over and dragged him into the cave. Rangers later found the body of the deceased guide in the cave.
Park management has indicated that it plans to take legal action against the tour company that allowed tourists to descend into the cave.
The guides should never have taken the tourists to these caves, which were forbidden to enter. The guides thus violated the national park’s closure order.
Despite everything, the Dutch women did well and were treated for minor injuries to their legs in a local hospital.
Football Team Rescue Operation 2018
In 2018, it was big news that a Thai boys’ soccer team and their coaches had become trapped in flooded caves in northern Thailand. A major rescue operation eventually freed them:
