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Comment by brandnewlow | Hacker News Reader

Can someone else explain the story with "Ben"? Did he offend someone and thus get kicked off the rescue squad? I couldn't follow the reason why he was stuck sitting in a chair outside the cave.

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From searching online the answer isn’t clear. Ben Reymenants gave interviews during the run-up to the rescue that may have pissed someone off; on the other hand, it was never clear that the signage was legitimate.

Basically the entire rescue operation sounds like it was conducted under a fog of war. No one was ever officially in charge, no one was legally authorized to do what they did (such as the medication of the boys).

Narongsak Osatanakorn was put officially in charge of coordinating rescue efforts even after his term as governor had ended. I don't know how involved he was with facilitating communicating between the teams but at the very least he seemed to be their official liaison with the outside world (although of course unofficial lines existed as well).

Very specifically the Australians were given diplomatic immunity, which sidelined the legal question.

[1] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-16/thai-cave-rescue-aust...

I like to imagine Chrisjen Avasarala from The Expanse saying:

“I don’t give a fuck what you do, just get them the fuck out of there. Now.”

He did get stuck a few times trying to swim in.

Interesting idea. Were the other team members more thin? Do you think it was an internal method to protect him?

Perhaps nobody wanted to say in his face that he must not try again, but it was an informal method that the team had to say it anonymously.

"Again, Ben gets stuck. This time, a European has to use nearly a full tank of air pulling Ben out by his ankles."

I could see why they would be hesitant to use him.

Supposedly it was for talking to the press.

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