Rescue team may have to be dropped from a helicopter into the cave through a tunnel at the cliff face of Tham Luang-Khun Nam Nang Non or to trek to the tunnel and climb down into the cave, Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda said late Tuesday afternoon.
The minister who arrived at the cave on Tuesday to supervise the search and rescue operations said he was confident that the 12 trapped footballers and their coach are still alive although they are yet to be located.
He said that Seal frog men were encountering difficulties in getting through a flooded channel to a cave chamber because of the murky water which has blocked their visibility and rising water.
Each oxygen tank can last only an hour and when the oxygen ran out they have to get out of the water to change a new one, he said, adding that the Seal frog men can proceed a couple of ten metres within an hour.
The minister disclosed that the 13 might take refuge at a sand bar named Pattaya Beach at the end of the cave.
He said that the tunnel at the cliff face which was believed to lead to the cave is close to Pattaya Beach were the 13 were believed to have taken refuge
