Thailand Cave Rescue 2019 - 31/01/22

Speaker at Irvine Seagate Rotary on Monday was President Hugh Hutchison, who gave a detailed description of the harrowing rescue of 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach who were trapped 2 ½ km inside a flooding cave system in Thailand in 2019.  The rescue involved many international cave divers, and it took nearly three weeks to find the boys, assemble the team and the logistics, and to establish the escape route.  The lead medic was an Australian anaesthetist, Richard Harris, who used Ketamine, a powerful veterinary anaesthetic, to sedate the boys as they were pulled underwater in breathing gear through narrow tunnels for 4 hours to the cave entrance.  As a diver himself, Hugh was able to fully illustrate the complexity and challenges this rescue presented.  A Vote of Thanks was proposed by Robert McMillan.

Twenty entries were received from Irvine Royal Academy for the Rotary Young Photographer competition.   These have been judged locally, and two will go forward to West of Scotland District finals, by Freya Shaw in the Intermediate age group, and Skye Wightman in the Seniors.

It was noted that the collections for Poppy Scotland at Tesco and Sainsburys had raised over £4100, taking the total raised over 5 years to over £19,000.  President Hugh Hutchison recently presented a framed certificate of recognition to the Irvine Sea Cadets  in appreciation of their help with these collections.

Next week’s meeting will be a virtual McGonagall night.