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## The Plan Takes Shape
The extraction plan that the rescue command finalized in the days after July 2 had to account for a number of specific logistical constraints.
The passage between Nern Nom Sao and Chamber 3, the base camp 800 meters from the entrance, involved several flooded sections of varying lengths and difficulty. The longest and most technical were those near Sam Yaek and beyond. A system of sequential handoffs was designed: each boy, sedated and masked and tethered, would be guided by a lead diver through the first flooded section, handed off to the next diver at the air pocket beyond, guided through the next section, and so on through a human chain until he reached Chamber 3. From Chamber 3, the boy would be carried on a stretcher by dry-land teams through the remaining 800 meters to the entrance.
The oxygen cylinders placed by the supply teams — including those placed at personal cost by Saman Kunan and his colleagues — were positioned at intervals throughout the flooded passage so that divers escorting the boys would not exhaust their gas supply mid-passage.
The timing of each individual extraction was approximately three hours from the point of departure inside to the point of arrival at Chamber 3. Given that the divers needed recovery time between dives, only a certain number of boys could be brought out each day. The plan was to extract four boys on the first day, four on the second, and five (including the coach) on the third.