Pinoy teacher part of rescue of Thai football team


By RIE TAKUMI, GMA News
An English teacher by weekdays and a rock climbing instructor by the weekend, Christoffer John Aquino remains the sole Filipino enlisted in the ongoing rescue of a young football team stuck in an underground cave in Thailand.
Aquino told GMA News Online that he was tapped to be part of Camp Geo, a team of Thailand's "top geologists and geographers" to find the extraction point for the 12 kids and their coach from the Tham Luang Nang Non.
"Our mission was to find an extraction point, an alternate access into the cave. We were working on the southern end of the cave while the UK divers are at the north end where the cave entrance is," he said.
"Once we receive proper coordinates, we check out the site and start searching for holes that might lead straight to the cavern below us," Aquino added.
In a public post, Aquino said his team had to search the ground and crawl into tight spaces to find possible ways to bring the football team out of the cave.
CNN reported that the 12 boys and their coach have been located in the Northern Thailand cave after nearly two weeks but are currently too weak from exhaustion and malnutrition to be carried out.
Rescuers are pressured to extract the team before the additional rainfall flood waters further.
Huge volumes of flood water are already being pumped out of the complex while oxygen is pumped in for the boys.
A former Thai Navy Seal had died after running out of oxygen while assisting in the rescue operation, Agence France-Presse reported.
The current route to the team requires a six hour journey through dark, flooded tunnels both ways. — RSJ, GMA News

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