All 12 boys and their coach were found alive says a Thai official

In this handout photo released by Tham Luang Rescue Operation Center, Thai rescue teams walk inside cave complex where 12 boys and their soccer coach went missing, in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, in northern Thailand, Monday, July 2, 2018. Rescue divers are advancing in the main passageway inside the flooded cave in northern Thailand where the boys and their coach have been missing more than a week. (Tham Luang Rescue Operation Center via AP)

A Thai provincial governor says all 12 boys and their coach have been found alive in the cave where they went missing over a week ago in northern Thailand.

Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said late Monday that the 13 were being rescued.

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He said, “We found them safe. But the operation isn’t over.”

The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach went missing when flooding trapped them after entering the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai province on June 23.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. </s> Rescuers have resumed efforts to locate 12 boys and their soccer coach, who are missing in an extensive cave network in northern Thailand and are feared cut off by rising water levels.

About a dozen Thai navy SEAL divers re-entered the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai province Tuesday morning, the Associated Press reports. Rescue efforts were hampered by extensive flooding in a chamber deep in the cave Monday and were temporarily halted.

The boys, aged between 11 and 15, and their 25-year-old coach are believed to be alive but have been trapped in the cave for three nights. Bicycles, backpacks and soccer kit were found at the entrance of the cave.

“We hope that the water level has gone down but we will have to see,” Navy Lt. Naponwath Homsai said Tuesday. “Today we will try to find passages which are under the water that hopefully will lead to other chambers.”

Here’s what to know:

A group of 12 boys and their soccer coach are thought to have entered a cave in Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai province on Saturday afternoon, the Associated Press reports. After one of the boys did not return from soccer practice, his mother alerted the authorities, prompting the search effort.

 



According to rescue officials, heavy rain this week has caused parts of the cave to fill with as much as 5m (16 ft.) of water. Police found footprints and handprints inside the complex, and other hikers cut off by floodwaters have been rescued from safe, higher ground inside the cave in the past, authorities said. “We’re confident that the kids should still be in good condition,” Chiang Rai Deputy Governor Passakorn Bunyalak said Monday.

Venturing deeper into the cave will add more challenges to the rescue effort. Divers might need to teach the trapped boys basic scuba skills and bring them food supplies, or the boys may have to wait until the flood waters recede, Passakorn said.

Where are they?

The boys and their coach, members of the Moo Paa (Wild Boar) Academy football club, are believed to be trapped in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave, a 6-8 km (4-5 mi) long cavern that is comprised of large chambers connected by narrower passageways. The cave is a tourist attraction that’s located close to the Myanmar border. According to a guidebook on the region’s caves, Tham Luang Nang Non is only passable between November and June due to flooding during Thailand’s rainy season.

After rescuers were forced to pause Monday due to flooding, efforts resumed early Tuesday, with a team of Thai navy SEALS and other rescuers re-entering the partly-flooded cave. Before efforts were halted Monday, search teams found bags and shoes in a second chamber behind the cave entrance, raising hopes that the team is deeper yet in the complex. Overnight, electricians installed a power line 1 km (.6 mi) into the cave to support the divers with electric lights and fans Tuesday. Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osottanakorn said the line would also allow them to install engines to pump out some of the floodwater. Family and supporters have gathered outside the cave for the past three days, waiting for news and holding prayer sessions. Some performed a traditional ritual Tuesday morning to call for those who are missing. “I haven’t slept and I hope that all of them can come out, all safe and sound,” said Namhom Boonpiam, whose 13-year-old son Mongkol is missing. “My son is a strong boy. I still have hope.” </s> THAILAND-A Thai provincial governor says all 12 boys and their coach have been found alive in the cave where they went missing over a week ago in northern Thailand.

Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said late Monday that the 13 were being rescued.

He said, “We found them safe. But the operation isn’t over.”

The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach went missing when flooding trapped them after entering the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai province on June 23. </s> Thai officers supervise the rescue mission inside Tham Luang Nang Non cave on in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Rescuers battle heavy rain in northern Thailand as they continued the search for 12 boys and their soccer coach who have been missing in Tham Luang Nang Non cave since Saturday night after monsoon rains blocked the main entrance.

A Thai youth soccer team and its coach were found alive Monday in a vast, flooded cave complex where they disappeared more than a week ago.

“We found them safe," Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said. "But the operation isn’t over."

It was not immediately clear when the group would be removed from the cave. Osatanakorn said the rescue was underway and conditions of the players were being evaluated.

Photos sent from the forward rescue team showed some of the boys smiling for the camera, fueling optimism for their ecstatic family members awaiting word outside the cave, the Bangkok Post reported.

The desperate search drew worldwide attention, and hundreds of rescuers worked around the clock combatting heavy rains and flooding that slowed the effort. Massive pumps cleared water out of sections of cave, allowing rescuers to drill deep into a network of tunnels.

The players, ages 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach had been stranded since June 23 in the Tham Luang Nang Non caves in Thailand's rugged, mountainous Chiang Rai province.

"Thai Navy SEALs have found all 13 with signs of life," the governor said. "We will take care of them until they can move."

More: US rescue team aids desperate search for Thailand soccer team

More: 'We must find the children today': Desperate cave search underway

They were found in a chamber containing the so-called Pattaya Beach, an elevated rock mound sometimes used by cavers when water floods the caves, Osatanakorn said.

Earlier Monday, Thai authorities announced searchers had closed to within less than 600 yards of the mound and were widening the narrow, twisting route with drills so they could pass through with their gear.

Last week, the U.S. Pacific Command sent a 30-person rescue team to northern Thailand to aid the desperate search, which began when a mother reported her son had not returned from soccer practice. The soccer team had not been heard from since.

Teams from Britain, China, Australia and other countries also joined the effort. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha issued a statement of thanks to "all international units that have come to assist the Thai authorities in rescuing the youth football team. ... The Royal Thai Government and the Thai people are grateful for this support and cooperation, and we all wish the team a safe and speedy recovery.”

Thai military and local first-responders led the effort, backed by with military helicopters, remotely operated underwater vehicles and drones equipped with heat detectors.

Families of the missing joined by Buddhist monks had been conducting a vigil outside the cave entrance and the team's bikes and soccer gear remained strewn in the area. </s> BANGKOK: A dramatic underwater rescue mission to find a children´s football team who have been trapped in a flooded cave for two days was under way in northern Thailand, officials said Monday.

Divers have reached a large chamber of the vast cave inside which the 12 boys and their coach are believed to be stuck, said the deputy governor of Chiang Rai province.

"We think they are in this part of the cave, which continues for another three kilometres," Pasakorn Boonyalug said. "They haven´t eaten anything since Saturday, so we have brought them food and drink," he added.

The children aged between 11 and 16 entered Tham Luang cave, in a national park near the Myanmar and Laos borders, with their coach on Saturday. One of their mothers raised the alarm when her son did not return from football training that evening. </s> MAE SAI, Thailand - Rescuers in northern Thailand on Sunday extracted at least four members of a youth soccer team from the cave where they had been trapped for more than two weeks, part of an ongoing operation to rescue the 12 boys and their coach, officials said.

The operation to rescue the boys, ages 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach by having them dive out of the flooded cave began Sunday morning, with expert divers entering the sprawling complex for the complicated and dangerous mission.

Shortly before 8 p.m., the Thai navy SEALs reported on their official Facebook page that four had been rescued.

Helicopters and several ambulances were seen departing from the cave area, though there was no official announcement of whom they were carrying. Officials had said earlier that helicopters were on standby to take anyone rescued from Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai province to a hospital.

Chiang Rai acting Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn, who is heading the operation, said that 13 foreign and five Thai divers were taking part in the rescue and that two divers would accompany each boy as they're gradually extracted.

"Divers will work with doctors in the cave to examine each the kids' health to determine who should get to come out first," Narongsak said Sunday morning.

The entire operation to rescue all 13 could last two to four days, depending on weather and water conditions, said army Maj. Gen. Chalongchai Chaiyakam.

The only way to bring the boys and their coach out of the cave is by navigating dark and tight passageways filled with muddy water and strong currents, as well as oxygen-depleted air. A former Thai navy SEAL passed out and died making the dive Friday.

Experienced cave rescue experts consider an underwater escape a last resort, especially with people untrained in diving, as the boys are. The path out is considered especially complicated because of twists and turns in narrow flooded passages.

But Narongsak said earlier that mild weather and falling water levels over the last few days had created optimal conditions for an underwater evacuation that won't last if it rains again.

Before announcing that the rescue was underway, authorities ordered the throngs of media that have gathered at the cave from around the world to leave.

The boys and their coach became stranded when they went exploring in the cave after a practice game June 23. Monsoon flooding cut off their escape and prevented rescuers from finding them for almost 10 days.

The ordeal has riveted Thailand and made global headlines, and the search and rescue operation has involved international experts and rescuers.

President Donald Trump said in a tweet on Sunday: "The U.S. is working very closely with the Government of Thailand to help get all of the children out of the cave and to safety. Very brave and talented people!"

Authorities had said that incoming monsoon rains that could send water levels in the cave rising, coupled with falling oxygen levels in the enclosed space, added to the urgency of getting those trapped out. Earlier efforts to pump out water from the cave have been set back every time there has been a heavy downpour.

Narongsak said Saturday that experts told him water from new rain could shrink the unflooded space where the boys are sheltering to just 10 square meters (108 square feet).

"I confirm that we are at war with water and time from the first day up to today," he said Saturday. "Finding the boys doesn't mean we've finished our mission. It is only a small battle we've won, but the war has not ended. The war ends when we win all three battles — the battles to search, rescue and send them home."

The boys sounded calm and reassuring in handwritten notes to their families that were made public Saturday. The notes were sent out with divers who made an 11-hour, back-and-forth journey to act as postmen.

One of the boys, identified as Tun, wrote: "Mom and Dad, please don't worry, I am fine. I've told Yod to get ready to take me out for fried chicken. With love."

"Don't be worried, I miss everyone. Grandpa, Uncle, Mom, Dad and siblings, I love you all. I'm happy being here inside, the navy SEALS have taken good care. Love you all," wrote Mick.

"Night loves Dad and Mom and brother, don't worry about me. Night loves you all," wrote Night, in the Thai manner of referring to one's self in the third person.

The most touching note came from one whose name was not clear: "I'm doing fine, but the air is a little cold, but don't worry. Although, don't forget to set up my birthday party."

Another, of indistinct origin, asked their teacher not to give them a lot of homework.

In a letter of his own, the coach, Ekapol Chanthawong, apologized to the boys' parents for the ordeal.

"To the parents of all the kids, right now the kids are all fine, the crew are taking good care. I promise I will care for the kids as best as possible. I want to say thanks for all the support and I want to apologize to the parents," he wrote.

An update Saturday from the Thai navy said three navy SEALs were with the boys and their coach, one a doctor. The 13 were having health evaluations and rehabilitation, and were being taught diving skills. Food, electrolyte drinks, drinking water, medicine and oxygen canisters have been delivered to them. A major concern of the rescuers is that oxygen levels in their safe space could fall dangerously low.

Rescuers have been unable to extend a hose pumping oxygen all the way to where the boys are, but have brought them some oxygen tanks.

Stick with us right here for the latest on the rescue mission. We will post updates as soon as they become available.

More on this story, here. </s> Thailand cave rescue: Four boys rescued after two weeks in flooded cave

CHIANG RAI, Thailand: Four of 12 Thai schoolboys were rescued from a flooded cave on Sunday in a daring and dangerous operation to save the children and their soccer coach who have been trapped underground for more than two weeks.

The operation to rescue the remaining eight boys - some as young as 11 and weak swimmers - and the coach was called off at nightfall until Monday to give the divers time to replenish oxygen supplies and ensure all preparations were complete.

Thirteen foreign divers and five members of Thailand’s elite navy SEAL unit guided the boys to safety through narrow, submerged passageways that claimed the life of a former Thai navy diver on Friday.

"Today was the best day, the best situation in terms of the weather, the health of the boys, our water management for our rescue effort," the head of the rescue operation, Narongsak Osottanakorn, told a news conference.

"Today we managed to rescue and send back four children to Chiang Rai Prachanukrua Hospital safely.

"The rescuers needed at least 10 hours to prepare for their next operation, involving about 90 divers in total, 50 of them from foreign countries, he said. A helicopter flew the four boys to the nearby city of Chiang Rai, where they were taken by ambulance to the hospital.

Their ordeal has drawn huge media attention in Thailand and abroad, and getting the boys out safely could be a boost for Thailand’s junta ahead of a general election next year.

Bursts of heavy monsoon rain soaked the Tham Luang Cave area in northern Chiang Rai province on Sunday and storms were expected in coming weeks, increasing the risks in what has been called a "war with water and time" to save the team.

The boys, aged between 11 and 16, went missing with their 25-year-old coach after soccer practice on June 23, setting out on an adventure to explore the cave complex near the border with Myanmar and celebrate a boy’s birthday.

The rescue teams had rehearsed the plan for several days, Narongsak said, and had managed to drain the cave water level considerably, but needed to move fast.

"If we wait and the rain comes in the next few days we will be tired again from pumping and our readiness would drop. </s> Thai officers supervise the rescue mission inside Tham Luang Nang Non cave on in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Rescuers battle heavy rain in northern Thailand as they continued the search for 12 boys and their soccer coach who have been missing in Tham Luang Nang Non cave since Saturday night after monsoon rains blocked the main entrance.

A Thai youth soccer team and its coach have been found alive in a vast, flooded cave complex where they disappeared more than a week ago, the regional governor said Monday.

“We found them safe," Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said late Monday. "But the operation isn’t over."

Osatanakorn said they were found in the area near the so-called Pattaya Beach, an elevated rock mound sometimes used by cavers when water floods the caves. He said the rescue was underway and that their conditions were being evaluated.

Twelve players, ages 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach had been stranded for 10 days in the Tham Luang Nang Non caves in Thailand's rugged, mountainous Chiang Rai province.

"Thai Navy seals have found all 13 with signs of life," the governor told The Bangkok Post. "We found all 13 safe... we will take care of them until they can move."

More: US rescue team aids desperate search for Thailand soccer team

More: 'We must find the children today': Desperate cave search underway

The U.S. Pacific Command sent a 30-person rescue team to northern Thailand to aid the desperate search, which began when a mother reported her son had not returned from soccer practice. The group had not been heard from since they disappeared June 23.

Thai military and local first-responders also assited in the effort, along with military helicopters, remotely operated underwater vehicles and drones equipped with heat detectors.

Families of the missing joined by Buddhist monks had been conducting a vigil outside the cave entrance and the team's bikes and soccer gear remained strewn in the area. </s> The boys and their soccer coach were located nine days after first entering the Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex, Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn, said Monday night local time.

The governor said rescue teams will send doctors and food to help them and that rescue teams still need to pump more water out of the cave and work on bringing them out.

"We found them safe. But the operation isn't over," the governor said, according to the Associated Press.

The boys, ages 11 to 16, and their coach had been stuck in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave following a soccer game and near-constant rains since then have thwarted the search for them, according to the AP. The incident most probably caused by jerry-rigged electrical lines fed into the caverns to power lights and pumps, according to the AP.

The rescue mission had been hampered late last week after at least three rescuers near the efforts of the cave complex appeared to suffer electric shocks, according to The Associated Press.

Ambulances quickly arrived and witnesses saw three men being carried to them on stretchers. Police said their injuries were minor and the men were in stable condition, the AP reported.
Divers in Thailand rescue the remaining four boys and their coach from the Tham Luang Nang Non cave.