Volunteers have been descending on the cave complex in northern Thailand where a multinational rescue team is working to save 12 boys and their coach trapped in a flooded cave about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the mouth of the Tham Luang cave.
The almost miraculous discovery of the junior soccer team, who were found huddled on a small, muddy bank in a flooded chamber of the cave nine days after disappearing on June 23, has grabbed media attention around the world.
The rescuers, who include Australian police, U.S. military personnel and British cavers as well as more than 1,000 Thai army and navy personnel, are trying to figure out how to get the boys out through several kilometers of dangerously flooded tunnels, and even whether to attempt to bring them out for now.
Israeli-born Rafael Aroush and his son Shlomi drove for 12 hours from their home in Udon Thani province to help with the rescue effort in Chiang Rai, arriving at the Tham Luang cave rescue site early on Thursday.
Rafael Aroush, 53, is originally from Israel but has lived in Thailand for more than 30 years.
"Like any other parent, when I hear the parents of the kids, the mothers crying, on the TV, and know that they'd lost their kids in the cave – well, my heart broke apart," he said.
"I can dive and I can translate. I speak Thai fluently, and Hebrew and English. So I hope that will be some kind of help. I can dive with the divers and then translate to them as well."
According to Aroush, the "biggest obstacle" facing rescuers is how to teach the boys to dive out through the dangerous flooded tunnels, which is how emergency personnel reached them. The death of one rescuer on Thursday highlighted the risks in attempting that.
One option is for the group stay in the cave until the flood waters recede after the rainy season – in about four months.
But some officials say the boys could be out in days if the weather is on their side and if enough water can be pumped out of the cave network to enable the boys to get out the same way they got in before the rains hit and flooded the site: on foot through muddy tunnels, perhaps with some swimming.
Samarn Poonan, 38, a former member of Thailand's elite navy SEAL unit, lost his life on Thursday night as he and a partner worked underwater in the cave complex, laying oxygen tanks along a potential exit route, the SEAL commander said.
Samarn lost consciousness underwater as the two were returning from the mission, about 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) from the cave entrance.
"Once his mission was over, he dove back, but in the middle of their return his buddy found Samarn unconscious in the water and tried to pump his heart, but he could not save his life," the SEAL unit said in a statement.
"We won't let his life be in vain. We will carry on," Admiral Arpakorn Yuukongkaew told reporters on Friday.
