I think the issue would have been that a random anaesthetist who was not part of the rescue effort and not a diver would not have readily understood the compelling need for it, and would have been disincentivized to take such a medical risk. It could have been done but likely would have taken a lot more time, and that was time they didn’t have. The cave totally flooded a couple of days later.
This is the aspect of the story that truly amazes me. AIUI, anesthetizing and keeping a human unconscious, but alive, is quite a trick even in a hospital setting. Lots of variables, and it requires constant monitoring.
That doctor / diver had to dose those kids (who were weakened and malnourished) under horrendous conditions, send them off and hope they didn’t wake up. Or just die. The only possible intervention was for hastily trained non-doctors to re-dose them during a horrifically dangerous cave dive.
That was one hell of a terrible risk they were forced to take. Dr. Harris must have aged lifetimes until the last one was brought out successfully. I work under a little bit of pressure in my job, but I cannot imagine what that must have been like for the rescuers.
I assume the kids were in the cave at other times before this event? And why did they go so far in?
They planned to spend only an hour in the cave. When they were ready to leave, the water was rising and they had to move deeper into the cave a few times to reach higher ground. The flood forced them much deeper into the cave than planned.
I haven’t seen it, but I have read a few slightly detailed reviews. I’m not sure I’ll watch it. I have what I would consider only moderate claustrophobia, but the descriptions sound nightmare-inducing to me. I mean I won’t go normal spelunking on a bet, let alone that kind of skin-scraping wriggling.
It sounded like they were very familiar with the cave. One of them said (in the movie) ‘This is the best part!’ when they were fairly deep in.
Just watched this last night. Wow that was intense. What boggled my mind was that those dives were like 7 hours in each direction. I don’t have any experience with SCUBA diving - how long does one tank of air usually last?
I recall about 45 minutes or so. They might have lasted longer in the cave, since (I don’t think) they were at typical dive depths. But I wondered how they could dive so long, and figured they must have staged tanks along the way. I think there were like 100 divers, so they would have had the manpower to move tanks.
Mrs Bullitt and I just watched this. I’m a big Ron Howard fan and didn’t know about this movie until recently seeing a trailer. It was very good. I’m the kind that likes to watch the credits, especially for film location. They said Australia, and the same province in Thailand where the cave is. I’m going to read more about this movie but I think they filmed it at the actual cave.
Two thumbs up.
Oh, and for somewhile watching it, all the time I thought it was Ed Harris. But at the credits, yes of course, Viggo!