How does one sedate someone sufficiently to allow them to 'behave' without losing his ability to maintain his airway (presumably using a standard diving mouthpiece)?
Were they sedated in any way?The Thai authorities are being very coy about this.Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said they had been lightly sedated. But the BBC has spoken to a number of people involved in the operation who say the boys were heavily sedated, and only semi-conscious.The logic for this would be the fear their rescuers had that they would panic when wearing diving equipment for the first time in darkness and swirling cave water, endangering the lives of all of them.The two British cave divers who led the rescue effort, John Volanthen and Richard Stanton, are believed to have asked for Australian Richard Harris, a cave diver and anaesthetician, to assist in preparing the boys.How they carried semi-conscious or very drowsy boys through the technically challenging early stages of the journey out, with a lot of diving in narrow passages, we do not know.At times they may have been strapped to a diver's body. Later they were strapped on to a stretcher and suspended from a rope pulley system attached to the cave roof.The entire operation was complex, innovative and very bold. Nothing like it has been attempted before. Some of those involved described the tasks undertaken by the core divers, who carried the boys out, as superhuman.
Quote from: Speleofish on July 11, 2018, 05:21:13 pm How does one sedate someone sufficiently to allow them to 'behave' without losing his ability to maintain his airway (presumably using a standard diving mouthpiece)?It was clarified that they weren't sedated. However they were given something to calm them. I suspect that was beta blockers to calm anxiety thus reduce the potential for underwater panic attacks.
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Topic: An outstanding achievement in Thailand (Read 3399 times)
