Teams assembled the pumping infrastructure as quickly as possible. By the time the rescue operation was at its peak, more than a hundred pumps of various capacities were operating at and around the cave, drawing water out through hoses that ran down the mountain. Farmers in the Mae Sai valley whose fields were on the receiving end of the runoff cooperated, allowing their land to absorb the pumped water. The pumping operation was a massive logistical undertaking in its own right, involving hundreds of people maintaining, refueling, and monitoring equipment around the clock.
The pumping was essential but not sufficient to resolve the situation on its own. The calculations being done by hydrological engineers suggested that bringing the water levels inside the cave down to a passable point, against the ongoing monsoon rainfall, would take months — perhaps until October when the rains typically ended. The team could not survive for months inside the cave on whatever food remained with them and whatever could be delivered through the still-flooded passages.
Drilling was the second alternative approach. If the cave could not be drained and the team could not come out through the flooded passages, could a vertical shaft be drilled from the surface to reach their location? Teams of engineers and volunteers spent days mapping the terrain above the cave and attempting to locate shafts or cracks in the rock that might provide an alternative route. American military drilling teams joined the effort, bringing specialized equipment capable of boring through limestone.