Analysis and discussion of the days top stories and compelling issues from Lawrence ODonnell. Its completely dark, but i could just sense like oh my gosh, theres like 12 children in here and im just in the entrance way. And im spooked out. I cant even imagine. Talking to a lot of the experts that do cave diving as a hobby, were like man, this is one of the five most dangerous caves ive ever been in. The hair stands up on the back of your neck. The first thought is theyre not going to get out. I mean the kids, weve done recoverying before with live people and its about panic on the water. I was always confident we could get them out. It was get iting them out alive. June 23rd, 12 boys and their Soccer Coach Head into the mountains of Northern Thailand for a trek. They posted photos before riding to the cave. Place they had visited before. They were expected to return to their nearby village later that day. A dozen members of a youth b Football Team and their coach are missing after they entered a cave in Northern Thailand. Investigators believe the coach the boys called into the cave. Search and rescue crews are on the scene trying to locate the boys. Its believed the team has been trapped near the cave entrance. Within 24 hours of the boys going missing, a Search Operation is underway. The boys bikes and backpacks are
Analysis and discussion of the days top stories and compelling issues from Lawrence ODonnell. Lime cave system with Deep Recesses and narrow passageways. Most of the year, its relatively dry, but when monsoon comes, it quickly fills with water and when that happens, the cave is impossible to enter or to leave. The water levels are now rising. And the boys cannot swim. The night after the boys are reported missing, the Thai Navy Elite s. E. A. L. S diving team join the search. Working around the clock in pitch darkness, they wade, swim and dive through the black waters. At the same time, agencies and volunteers begin the ma moth task of pump iing water from th cave and surrounding area. If theyre in the right place, they could survive for five, six days. But the water now, the flood waters is getting higher and higher. So there will be a point in time where this cave here even the entrance will close. By day three, the search has es calated into a major militar operation. All the relatives can do is pray. After four days, theres still no sign that the boys are alive. The thai navy s. E. A. L. S are unable to navigate the labyrinth of passengers filled with murky flood water. Thai authorities call for international help. It was about 5 45 and my number two called and said hey, sir, sure youre tracking a
soccer team stuck in a cave in tie lapd. The next thing i knew, were all loading into an m krrkc 130. Landed at 1 00 in the morning on the 28th of june and key leadership pushed straight to the cave site. So we go into the cave and it was completely dark. And like im walking in thinking like this is so surreal. I mean, its so dark. A few of us had head lamps. I did not, so im trying to tag along as closely as i can to some of the other members of f the team, but i could just sense like oh my gosh, theres like 12 children and a coach in here and im just in the entrance way and im spooked out. I cant even imagine. Two british cave divers have also been called in by the
thais. Rick stanton and john are considered the best in the world and are the first the to dive deep into the cave. They brief the americans on the daunting task ahead. Those were when the rain levels were the highest and they were saying hey, in cave diving, you have b to be able the to lay line, have way out if youre going in. And they were saying the currents right now are not manageab manageable. Weve been battling to move forward. The rains are still flowing. The Viz Babsibility is is zoe r. Efb take a deep breath and lets come at this from a collective perspective of how can we tackle a really complex problem that i think over the next few day and weeks we realize has never been done before. On sunday, july 1st, a Break In The Rain allows the Rescue Dive Team to set up a base inside of one of the cave
chambers. The british divers forged deep into the cave. Far below the surface, they swim against strong currents for 1. 5 kilometers and then the moment that seems like a miracle. Need a change of scenery . From you whether you do well or not, Fisher Investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. Maybe thats why most of our clients come from other money managers. Fisher investments. Clearly better money management. Are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi. . A more powerful way to stay connected. It gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most Wifi Coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. Its the ultimate wifi experience. Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. Done consistently, but cave diving rescues are very rare and none of them have ever been done with 13 people, 2. 4 kilometers into the earth. The families feel like their prayers have been b answered, but it turns out their ordeal has only just begun. The boys and their coach has been without food for a week. Theyre tired an afraid. The only way out of the cave is by diving and as far as we know, the boys cant even swim. After locating the boys, the british divers call in reenforcements from home. When you hear that the its 12 children and a young coach, theyre in this situation. Whats your first thought about the the options or the viability . The first thought is theyre not out and then the kids weve done recoveries with live people
and its all about panic on the water and you cant, you can tell the kid whatever you want, but in an actual situation where youve got a kid in the water, theyre more an likely going to panic. At first, we thought its not actually possible to dive them out. Jasons first dive into the cave confirms his fears. He is swimming against the current on the way in so usually on the way in, the viz bability sb isnt too bad and usually fine, the first diver, but the first diver is fit in and that creates eddies in the water which stirs up the silt and then the second diver doesnt get back. Sorry, such good visibility and then the third diver gets even worse so by the time time youve got a fifth or a sixth, so you tend to have much worse visibility on the way out so its a bit of a Comeback Course on the way out an sometimes, its, you can only just feel the
line. Sometimes you can see it a foot in front of you. A lot of times, its just nothing. All by braille and youre trying to remember all these line traps. So its quite sort of mentally exhausting experience to go there and back. The unfolding drama is now a Major International story. Hundreds of journal u. S. S are here in a makeshift muddy village here at the foot of the mountain. The thai people have also flocked to the site from all over the country to do whatever they can to help. The 24 hour tent city in the middle of this remote location is feeding and supporting thousands of people involved in the operation. Its such a beautiful culture. All the volunteers out there giving their time. And their resources. And never losing hope. The operation sifted from search to rescue. A party of thai navy s. E. A. L. S reaches the boys bringing Heat Blankets and medical supplies. Surprisingly, they only have minor injuries. Waiting aboveground, the boys mothers are overjoyed as they watch the video of their sons. World celebrate the boys survival, rescuers grapple with enormous challenge of how to get them out. The search for alternative entry points to the cave has proved futile. We were trying to find any other way because we knew the dive was going to be the most dangerous to find a way to get these kids out. We had hundred if not thousands of the Thai Military that were linked in with and theyre not finding any other Access Points along the side. They found all the Caving Experts we could and they all confirmed theres one way in and out of this cave and thats at the front entrance of it. There is no other option. But now its time to find my dream abode. Right away, i could tell his priorities were a little unorthodox. Keep going. Stop. A little bit down. Stop. Back up again. Is this adequate sunlight for a Komodo Dragon . Yeah. Sure, i want that discount on Car Insurance just for owning a home, but im not compromising. Youre taking a shower . Water pressures crucial, scott its like they say location, location, koi pond. They dont say that. Its like they say location, location, koi pond. Be right back. With moderate to severe Crohns Disease, i was there, just not always where i needed to be. Is she alright . I hope so. So i talked to my doctor about humira. I learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of Crohns Disease after trying other medications. And the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened;
as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Be there for you, and them. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. vo have to happen . Idnt i didnt see it. vo what if we could go back . What if our car. Could stop itself . In iihs frontend crash prevention testing, nobody beats the subaru impreza. Not toyota. Not honda. Not ford. The subaru impreza. More than a car, its a subaru. The mission could not be more dangerous. The boys and their coach are a kilometer below the surface and 2. 4 kilometers inside the notorious treacherous cave. The hardest thing is trying to portray in words without
being in environment. Talking to a lot of the experts that do cave diving as hobby, man, this is one of the five most dangerous caves ive ever been in in my career. The hair stands up on the back of your neck. On top of that, we need to get a bunch of people out. On top of that, the water is cold and muddy. Everything is feel. You know. You might have to reach around and feel through different stalactites or rocks then theres parts of the cave where the water really speeds up. Goes from narrow to thin and trying to fit through there and to deal with some of those flows becomes very dangerous. The option of leaving the boys where they are until after the canvassed, but abandoned. Some of the divers had a monitor that was showing Oxygen Levels getting less and less. One option was lets leave them in there for four month. That was not looking like the
best option. The food alone, we were able to get with a group of thai and british divers, some food back, about 100 meals for 15 people, that wouldnt last very long. And just looking at the kleinlyness, the hydroggiene, i they were to have an infek. A lot of those initial, maybe you try to wait out this water for three, four, five months became kind of unrealistic courses of action. Military engineers work through the night to install a kilometers long cable to deliver oxygen into where the boys are stranded, but the idea is quick ly abandoned. Doesnt seem practical. Pumps are in Action Draining water out of the cave, but heavy rains are forecast, which could quickly submerge the entire system. The rain was still so much of a factor that every single pump was getting overwhelmed. And we were fighting Mother Nature trying to get this much water out. But it was really the understanding that the flow of water coming in and the lowering of the Oxygen Levels in chamber nine, thats what forced us to a decision of hey, weve got to do something now. A Contingent Police and Army Personnel has been on the ground since early in the search, but its two Veteran Cave Divers from australia who will play a critical role. Craig and his friend, harry. They have dived together all over the world. Were broadly familiar with what was going on in the cave. And yet to be honest, not looking good at all. Its a long way in. Youve got most of them dont even know how to swim, let alone dive and were all wondering how this is going to possibly work. And to be honest, the prospects are bleak. On friday, july 6th, as harris and challenge challen are rescue site, there is a tragedy. News breaks that a former thai navy s. E. A. L. Involved in the operation has died. Petty officer saman kunan had left the navy but signed up to join the search as a volunteer. Saman had been delivering can is terrors along the route. In a cruel twist, he lost consciousness after running out of air himself on the return dive. And while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. Tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Dont let another morning go by without talking to your rheumatologist about xeljanz xr. When the guy in frontd down the highway dont let another morning go by without talking to slams on his brakes out of nowhere. You do, too, but not in time. Hey, no big deal. Youve got a good record and Liberty Mutual wont hold a grudge by raising your rates over one mistake. You hear that, karen . Liberty mutual doesnt hold grudges. How mature of them. For drivers with Accident ForgivenessLiberty Mutual wont raise their rates because of their first accident. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty
the top stories. President trump is spending the weekend away from washington at his golf club in new jersey as he continues to deny allegations from his former lawyer, michael cohen, that he knew in advance of a meeting with russian officials at trump tower in 2016. The remains of 55 u. S. Servicemen killed during the cory rkorean war will be headed to the United States and then confirmed they are indeed american soldiers. Now back to the msnbc special, out of the dark. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the mood of the rescue changes. The short lived elation after the boys were discovered has been replaced by a sense of crisis and grim determination. Everyone else was starting to see the same exact logic trail that was very quickly becoming
to the point that the dive option was the only option. And when we went and briefed the minister of the interior, we jus laid it out to him in a very logical sequence. That the point, we started to do rehearsals. Of concept, where we would teenage out what we thought the cape was. We would have Water Bottles as tanks an we would have them labeleded. We knew our chances would be better if we did nonstandard stuff like filling up a scuba tank and puing 80 oxygen in it instead of standard room air. Then we lookeded at the actual, will these face masks fit. So we had actual volunteered children and the thais were able to secure pool at the school and we dry rehearsed where we had divers and children wearing the equipment they were going to use for the rescue. Practice swimming under water. Practice handing them off. Going through all these details and trying to game out to the best of our ability, what we could do to ensure that when it was actually the decision was made and they said yeah, we want to enact this plan, that we could say to the best of our ability, we have rehearsed everything collectively and were going to give ourselves the best shot even though we know this is high risk. Did you have any role in preparing them for the journey out . Wed get out of the chamber and talk to them about what was involved. We would get out and correct the kit. We had to bring it in from outside each day. We have to bring a wet suit in. To get into the wet suit and put them in a buoyancy jacket and bring them down to the water. Put them in the full face mask and check that the seal was good and they were breathing okay. So we were fully involved in the whole operation. As preparations for the
rescue move into their final stage, everyones morale is boosted when letters were released. Taking the messages pack back from the children out, that must have given you a good feeling because this is the first sort of contact theyve had. Yeah, exactly. I mean, that was just imprompt u. Nobody asked me to bring messages out. Just padded with Waterproof Paper and i just thought, write a message to your parents. Write it on this pad and ill take it out. We nevada knew who was going to happen. We never knew we were going to get them out. So i thought it was important for them to be able to send a message out to their parents to put their minds at rest, im not doing too badly under the current circumstances. Mom and dad, i love you. If i can get out, please take me
to eat crispy pork. I am fine. It is a bit cold but dont worry. Please dont forget my birthday. I am happy. The s. E. A. L. Team is taking care of us very well. I miss you all. I really want to get out so much. And this from their coach. Dear parents, we are fine. The rescue team is is taking care of us very well. I promise that i will take best care of the boys. Thanks for all your support and i apologize to all parents. Please tell grandmother to make Park Crackling with Dipping Sauce wifor me. I will go and eat when i get out. Love you all. Where they were at that time, at that moment, they were quite comfoablfortabl
comfortable, but it was only myself and chris that knew what was coming in terms of the weather. Obviously we didnt say that to them. We told them about the plan, the details of the plan wed have to, how wed have to dive them out and none were whimpering or crying or anything. They just ak a septembccepted i. Real mental strength from them which was surprising considering their ages. Saturday afternoon, harry and i are going tin to look at the boys and coach and see what sort of state theyre in. And very pleasantly surprised, really, about that. Really keeping in good spirits. Theyve got the four thai navy s. E. A. L. S in with them and those guys did a fantastic job of looking after this boys and keeping morale up. So everything was looking really good in there. Theyve had a few days of being fed. After the nine days without any food and very little water, so
that aspect of it is good. But some of them are pretty small and fragile. Couple of them are only 30 ki l los, tiny little things, really. Theyre starting to get cold. Feel iing warm in the cave, abo 23 degrees, but over time, the dampness and the temperature just eats away at you and they started to chill down. All they had was the tshirts and shorts they went in with so they didnt have much exposure protection. How was it decided who goes out first, what batch and when did the coach come out . So that was up to the boys. And the coach and the thai navy. We told them what was going to happen and said you choose your best men and out they come. So it was nothing to do with us. Harry did not choose them. As has been suggested. So i think it was the bravest guys that came out first. So the risk level was incredibly high. And in my mind, the possibility, the Problablility Of Success Wa about as low as you can get. So you thought theres no chance of getting the 13 out i didnt think there was no chance, but when i was flat out asked what do you think the probability of success was, i told the government maybe 60 or 70 chance. So i was expecting that we would accept casualties. Maybe three, four, possibly five would die. Making cars lighter, its a good place to start, advanced oils for those hardworking parts. Fuels that go further so drivers pump less. Improving efficiency is what we do best. Energy lives here. The thai authorities order anybody not involved in the Rescue Operation to leave the area. As night falls, the fleet of balances arrive. Theres 13 of them. One for each of the boys and their coach. The task of bringing the boys out will be the responsibility of a team of 13 foreign divers and five thai navy s. E. A. L. S. It will take them three hours to make their way through the narrow dark passages to reach the boys. The main issue is are those guys going to be taught to dive and dive out. Or are they going to come out as a package and were going to do everything for them. And its really the former option wasnt going to be possible because of the language barriers and the fact theyre so young and so small. So they were going to have to have the whole thing done for them. So this is where the boys are here in chamber nine. So theres a hill here. Craig will play a key role along the route of the rescue, but it is the unique skills of his friend, dr. Harris, that will be critical to the success of the mission. And how are you keeping the boys calm . They did have sedation to keep them calm because the worst thing that could happen would be one of those guys panicking and if you put me in a full face mask with no previous experience b and dragged me out of a cave for a span of three hour trip, then i would would be terrified and probably panicking as well. So yeah, they were calmed down a
bit. Were they totally calm . Yes. Basically given an anesthetic to knock them out. Yeah, there wasnt very much activity there. And official sources told four corners that the Australian Government negotiated immunity from thai authorities for any australian involved in the sedation of the kids just in case something went wrong. The Rescue Operation is an incredible feat of planning and coordination. So we have divided the cave up to make it easier in the nine sections. The mouth of the cave then you came down into one then we had chambers one through three that were larger and more technical with ropes. The really, really complicated spots were taken by british divers that were you know, extremely 30 years plus of experience. There was upwards of 150 people
from chamber nine to the entrance of the cave working as one big team with different responsibilities. My role was one of the rovry divers. So i would take a kid from chamber nine and bring him the whole way out. So with a dive in, which submerged with the kid and then depending how the line laid, wed have them on the right hand side or the left hand side, have a hold in the back or the chest. The face here, depending if we were likely to hit the roof or not if we could see what was going on, wed hold them out a little bit further. Swimming through the swamp. The first day, reasonable visibility. I could see sort of a meter in front of me so i didnt have to hold on to the line. By the last day, it was nil viz bab visibility. So much more mentally exhausting and i had to have the light really close to me because if you didnt, you were bashing his head against the rocks or if i
had my head quite closely, if i extended my head, mine was bashing the rocks first. Vizsiblility was that bad. Couldnt see the rock until you hit it. Im one of the divers. So where the boys are, theres a divingaging passage of about 35 meters. Have to have the gear taken off of them an get carried over some passage and then get back into the water again. Thats about 200 meter os or so. Pulling through a sump. So i was at that stage after the first small dive, transporting them across that, getting their full face mask and getting their dive gear back on again and getting them sent off with the divers. So after the first flooded section, there was quite a long dry section. We had guys there with the
stretcher. So as soon as he came out of the water, hed be into stretcher, a drag stretcher, so you could drag it along the ground to the next one. There were certain areas that involved floating them. Involved diving them. Swimming them. If we have two rescuers per child and ensuring at all times, if there werent two, there was one always holing on to the child. So youve physically got a grip on the child then pass off to another diver. The viz bable thety is that treshl. Bench points as well. Its not one section of the cave like it was also sections where we had harnesses and it was huge sections of line where we would have them placed on the high line and maneuvered across these very steep caverns where we knew trying walk them all the way down back into these muddy areas and tight areas would be real dangerous. They had a full face mask on. So it was basically that one
thing that the mask they were use became dislodged, Got Watt Rer In and couldnt get it out, that was the one thing that would kill them. You got to a section you know, the Vertical Section was talk ing about. By that time, youve been in the system for five hours. You dont remember where the Vertical Section is and the only time you find about it is when your head bangs against the wall, you try to get yourself through, but you cant remember exactly how its laid out. So im trying to get myself through it, but also trying to get a kid through it. It was sort of horizontally in the water. Trying to force him through. No, that doesnt work. Try iing to pull myself through and you could spend several minutes at one obstacle to try and find your way through. Eventually, we did it, but its a very slow process and quite daunting. I was confident of giti ingetti the kid out. I wasnt 100 confident of getting him out alive because if
he bashed him too hard and it dislodged his mask, he was a goner, so thats why we had to be very slow and careful about not bang Iing Them Against [ cheers and applause ] the news that the first four of the boys have been rescued and brought to safety is met with mixed emotions, as the anxious Families Watch and wait
to learn who has been saved. For some, there is elation. For others, more anxious waiting. Look, it was a pretty hard day, but weve had a fantastic outcome. Theyre all in hospital. Theyre all doing well, and were trying not to get ourselves a false sense of comfort. And you know, it could all still go horribly wrong, and in fact, you know, in some ways, it would be worse for everyone involved if wed had some good outcomes and then it started to go wrong. So, we were still pretty toy. At this stage, everybodys been diving for multiple days, and
there are quite big guys in the cave, too, so starting to get a little bit tired, ready for a rest, but weve got the pressure that we know the rain is coming. We knew that if the rain got to levels where it was before that the Rescue Operation would probably come to an end because it would just be too risky, and at that point, youre risking a lot of the health of the rescuers, too. So, it was absolutely a race against time. I didnt believe it. Again. Ooh, baby, do you know what thats worth . I want to believe it. [ claps hands ] ooh im not hearing the confidence. Okay, hold the name your price tool. Power of options based on your budget and well make heaven a place on earth yeah oh, my angels ooh, heaven is a place on earth [ sobs quietly ] ooh, heaven is a place on earth when your blankets freshness fades before the bingewatching begins. Thats when you know, its halfwashed. Next time, add downy Fabric Conditioner for freshness that lasts through next weeks finale. Downy and its done. Booking a flight doesnt have to be expensive. Just go to priceline. Its the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40 . Just tap and go. For the best savings on flights, go to priceline. Weve just heard in the last hour or so that the ninth and tenth boys have been brought out, and the news thats coming through now is that the 11th boy is in the cave with two divers shepherding him through the narrow corridors. The 11th boy soon emerges, and theres news the coach is also free. As night falls, only one boy remains inside the cave. Three thai navy s. E. A. L. S and the australian dr. Richard harris are with him. They will stay until the very end. Well, the news is filtering out, unofficially at this stage, that all 13 members of the Wild Boar Soccer Team are out of the cave, that this Rescue Mission has been an unrivaled success, that this is a miracle rescue. [ cheering ] the 18day vigil is over. Five out the last night. Yeah. Its an amazing story. How did you feel when you finally got that last member of the team . Quite emotional, you know, because we were getting closer and closer to the entrance, so i got quite emotional. I dont normally. Just what we were doing must have come out. And ive got a kid myself now, so, it was quite a good feeling. [ cheers and applause ] thank you thank you you know, you had the last group of people come out, and then we knew all four thai s. E. A. L. S came out, and everybody was standing there around 10 00 at night, and we actually took a moment and let the emotions come back in. And i think that it really kind of hits you in the feels, and we thought, man, we just accomplished something. As a huge team, it took all these different people coming together, and i think that the world was watching them one way or another, you know. The soccer team is safe, but theres a final moment of drama for the rescuers still inside the cave. Yeah, i dont know if it was kind of a supernatural intervene, but one of the pumps back at chamber three failed, and we had a fair amount of guys over there waiting for the last group of s. E. A. L. S to come out, you know. And we got the call, hey, water levels are rising fast. That was definitely a spike of adrenaline towards the end of the night. [ cheers and applause ] for the thai authorities who led this mission, it is a dream result. We went to the hospital to see them yesterday. It was a really good experience. Yeah, theyre all sitting up and happy and eating. Words cannot describe how happy we were. Im still pinching myself a little bit, wondering if thats really what happened, and it does seem too good to be true. I remember when we were first here, and some of our tough guys
were saying, like i dont even know if i could survive. Like, these are kids. And for me, it just showcases these childrens will to live. Ive never done anything as risky as that, and i dont think i ever will again, but it was the only option we had, and we took it. Were so incredibly overjoyed that not only is it a good news story, but at the end of the day, we got the kids back together with their parents, and thats what matters in my mind. Love. All done. Now i am very fine. I very thank you. Thank you so much