Tham Luang Cave, the most renowned cave in Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai Province, is presently experiencing its most severe flooding in 13 years. The mountain range was inundated with torrential rain, with a total of 263mm recorded yesterday.
Vernon Unsworth, a British cave explorer who has resided in the Mae Sai district with his Thai wife for more than a decade, conducted an inspection of the Tham Luang cave today.
Unsworth told Thai PBS that based on his six-year exploration of the cave, he stated that the water gushing from the cave’s entrance is more powerful than a waterfall, suggesting that all of the chambers are currently submerged.
He also noted that it is fortunate that no one was present in the cave, as it is closed to all visitors until the end of the month.
The Tham Luang Cave situation is critical, according to Petcharat Suksamran, a Tham Luang-Khun Nam Nang Non National Park official. He also stated that a strong current of reddish water is continuously erupting from the entrance.
In June and July 2018, Tham Luang garnered global attention as a result of an international search and rescue operation that was initiated to rescue the 12 members of a football team and their coach who had been stranded in the flooded cave for more than a fortnight. They were all securely extracted from the cave on July 10.
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation has issued an advisory for tourists who are visiting national parks during the rainy season. The advisory advises them to adhere to the rules of the national parks, be aware of mountainous routes for their safety, check weather forecasts, research information about the parks they intend to visit and immediately seek higher ground if water conditions change in a stream.
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New Safety Precautions Implemented at Tham Luang Cave in Chiang Rai
New Safety Precautions Implemented at Tham Luang Cave in Chiang Rai
