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> Chiang Rai, Thailand (CNN) Thais reacted with relief and jubilation after rescue teams reported that they'd found all 12 boys and their soccer coach alive in a cave in Thailand nine days after the group went missing.

Rescuers at the scene outside Chiang Rai in northern Thailand cheered, exchanged high fives and slapped each others' backs as it emerged that British cave divers had made contact with the boys deep withing the cave complex, after navigating tight, flooded passages to reach them.

The Thai Navy released a video on Facebook apparently showing the moment the group were found. In the almost 5-minute clip, the boys are illuminated by torchlight while a diver can be heard speaking to them.

In the tape of the encounter, one of the British rescuers asks, in English, how many were in the group. Thirteen, the boys report. "Thirteen, brilliant!" the diver replies -- the number accounts for the entire missing party.

"We are coming, many people are coming. Many people, we are the first." The dazed boys, unaware of how long they've been trapped deep underground, ask what day it is.

"It's Monday, you have been here 10 days, 10 days," the rescuer replies. "You are very strong, very strong. We come, ok, we come."

The boys repeatedly tell them, in Thai, that they're hungry and need food. The rescuer replies that a Thai Navy SEAL team will come, along with "food and doctors and everything."

The boys, who are between 11 and 16 years old, are all members of the Wild Boar soccer team. They entered the Tham Luang Nang Non cave system on Saturday, June 23 but became stranded in the dark tunnels by a sudden and continuous downpour.

International rescue teams -- which include the Thai Navy SEALs as well as experts from the US, China, Australia and the UK -- had been working to reach a large, deep chamber, informally known as Pattaya Beach, where the missing boys were believed to have taken refuge.

A family member shows a picture of four of the twelve missing boys near the Tham Luang cave at the Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in Mae Sai on July 2, 2018.

"I confirm they are all safe," Narongsak Osottanakorn, governor of the local region Chiang Rai, told reporters on Monday night.

Family members greeted the news with relief and tears of happiness, punching the air when they heard that their boys were alive.

Family members of one of the missing boy celebrate while camping out near Tham Luang cave.

"I was happy to hear the cheering from the rescue workers. I felt that I have hope that I am going to get to see my son alive," said Adisak Wongsukjan, whose 14-year-old son Ekarat is one of the boys seen huddling in the cave.

"I want to hug my son... usually our family sleep in the same bed together. We are a very close family."

The missing boys, with their coach, are seen here in a photo taken from the coach's Facebook page.

Deep underground

In the days following the boys' disappearance into the vast network of tunnels, rescuers had focused on reaching Pattaya Beach, on the assumption that boys and their coach would go there to escape rising flood waters.

However, Osottanakorn said when rescuers reached Pattaya Beach they found it too was underwater. Divers continued a further 300 to 400 meters where they found the team perched on a muddy incline.

An image of the boys seen perched on a muddy strip deep inside the cave.

The boys were found around two kilometers (1.24 miles) into the cave and somewhere between 800 meters to one kilometer below the surface, according to a British Cave Rescue Council briefing note.

The briefing warns, however, that the danger has not abated. While Monday was relatively dry, by Tuesday the rains had started to steadily fall once again and while huge pumps are working overtime to bring the water levels down in the cave complex, any downpour could potentially set back efforts to bring the children out safely.

Amid the emotional discovery, Osottanakorn warned that the mission is "not done yet" and medical experts need to enter the cave to assess the boys.

"We will drain all water out from the cave then we will take all 13 people out of the cave. We are now planning how to send (a) nurse and doctor inside the cave to check their health and movement. We will work all night," he said.

Capt. Akanand Surawan, a commander with the Royal Thai Navy said additional divers will accompany the doctor and nurse. Rescuers will also pump air into the cave to improve conditions.

The next phase of the operation involves supplying the team with four months' worth of food and teaching the boys how to dive, Surawan said.

Pat Moret, a rescue consultant, said the team will likely need a lot of medical treatment before they can be moved.

"They'll need fluids replacing (and) possibly feeding. They're going to need reheating. They've possibly been lying still for days now. And sensory faculties won't be what they should be. So I would think that they're not really fit to move for maybe 12 hours or so really."

Even after that, the kids and their coach may need to dive to get out of the cave, Moret added.

"Worst case scenario is that they have to dive them out. So they're being fully immersed in water, wearing what we know is a full face mask or maybe even some sort of commercial dive helmet to make it a little less stressful for them. But it will be a truly terrifying experience," Moret said.

Outpouring of relief

Thais across the country, who have been following every twist of the nine-day long saga, reacted to Monday night's news with joy and relief.

One Thai twitter user said that he was "crying in (a) taxi" at the news.

I'm crying in taxi right now. They found all the 13 boys in the cave! #13ชีวิตต้องรอด — Sam Nathapong (@samnathapong) July 2, 2018

Many had been posting cartoons of the rescue attempts, and by Tuesday the drawings had changed into pictures of gratitude.

ไม่ใช่ปาฏิหาริย์แต่มันคือความพยายาม สุดท้ายนี้ต้องขอบคุณ จนท. ทุกท่านจากใจค่ะ🙇



Thanks for all of the hard works&supports physically&mentally from everyone-Thai&intl team from private&public org, local people who have helped searching for the13lives.🙇 .#ถ้ำหลวง #thamluang pic.twitter.com/cZIQfzGLKz — I'm YoUr😘P'ChOkE (@Prasattongosoth) July 3, 2018

Thai-language papers uniformly led with the boys' rescue in their Tuesday morning editions.

Thai newspapers lead with news that rescuers had made contact with the boys and their coach.

Thai Prime Minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, said he was delighted with the news, according to Thai state media.

In an article published in the National News Bureau of Thailand, the Prime Minister thanks the army, police, volunteers, the general public and the media for working together and making the rescue operation a success.

"This incident has shown the unity of the Thai people... Today is a good day for all Thai people, including the families of the children," Prayut said.

A park officer first sounded the alarm on June 23 after spotting the boys' bicycles near the entrance to the off-limits cave complex.

The cave is popular with tourists who venture into the cavernous entrance, however the tunnels narrow to the point that it's only possible to crawl through them. The tunnels open into wider chambers, and it's in one of those chambers that the boys were found. </s> 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.

RELATED: Thai prime minister to families of missing boys: Have faith

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> 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> 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> CHIANG RAI, Thailand (Reuters) - An eleventh person was rescued on Tuesday from a flooded Thai cave complex where 12 boys and their soccer coach were trapped for more than two weeks, raising hopes all 13 would be out by the end of the day.

A Reuters witness saw three people being carried out of the Tham Luang cave on stretchers separately on Tuesday, the third day of the rescue operation.

Eight of the boys were brought out on stretchers over the first two days - four on Sunday and four on Monday.

Officials were not immediately available to comment on who had been brought out, and it was not clear what condition they were in. A person with knowledge of the rescue said just before the eleventh person was spotted, that 10 people had been brought out.

The head of the operation, Narongsak Osottanakorn, said earlier the final operation would be “more challenging” because one more survivor would be brought out, along with three Navy SEALs who have been accompanying them.

The rescuers have been learning from experience and were two hours faster in bringing the second batch of survivors out on Monday.

However, scattered monsoon rains continued to risk percolating through the limestone cave walls to flood the tunnels with fast-flowing water.

“I hope today we will be faster or the same speed as yesterday,” Narongsak said.

A crack team of foreign divers and Thai Navy SEALS has been guiding the boys out through nearly 4 km (2.5 miles) of sometimes submerged, pitch-dark channels.

The “Wild Boars” soccer team and their coach got trapped on June 23 when they set out to explore the vast cave complex after soccer practice, when a rainy season downpour flooded the tunnels.

British divers found the 13, huddled on a muddy bank in a partly flooded chamber several kilometers inside the complex, on Monday last week.

The eight boys brought out on Sunday and Monday were in good health overall and some asked for chocolate bread for breakfast, officials said.

Two of the boys had suspected lung infections but the four boys from the first group rescued were all walking around their hospital beds.

They are still being quarantined from their parents because of the risk of infection and would likely be kept in hospital for a week to undergo tests, officials said.

Four more of the boys were carried on stretchers out of the labyrinthine Tham Luang cave on the Myanmar border at dusk on Monday, bringing to eight the number brought out after two rescue pushes on successive days.

People across Thailand, and the world, have cheered the rescue operation, including at the Mae Sai Prasitsart school where six of the trapped boys are students.

Technology billionaire Elon Musk went into the cave on Monday and left the rescue team with a “kid-sized” submarine his company SpaceX had built, Thailand’s interior Minister Anupong Paochinda said.

Musk said on Twitter: “Just returned from Cave 3. Mini-sub is ready if needed. It is made of rocket parts & named Wild Boar after kids’ soccer team. Leaving here in case it may be useful in the future.” </s> AN AUSTRALIAN doctor's triaging of 12 boys trapped in a cave in northern Thailand may have led to the rescue of four of the weakest children first.

Chiang Rai former governor Narongsak Osottanakorn, who is heading the rescue operation, had said Sunday was the "perfect day" to launch the daring rescue before heavy rain was again expected inundate the Tham Luang caves, 60km from Chiang Rai.

The initial plan was to bring the strongest out first.

But after Adelaide cave diver and anaesthetist Richard Harris, 53, assessed the youngsters and their coach that strategy appears to have been reversed, Thai media has reported.

Adding to the theory is the relatively short time it took to retrieve the four boys from the cave because of the lower water levels, which meant they could wade through some sections of the underground labyrinth instead of diving. Narongsak told a press conference late Sunday the rescue operation, launched at 10am, had taken "hours faster than expected".

Further adding to speculation that the weakest were rescued first was the condition of the first boy taken from the cave.

Mongkol Boonpiem, 13, emerged from the cave at 5.37pm and was taken to Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital.

Thai media reported one of the four boys was in a critical condition and a family friend told a reporter it was Mongkol, the weakest of the group, whose condition has since stabilised.

"I think Narongsak and the commanders changed their minds after the Australian doctor inspected the boys' health and mental state," one senior Thai journalist said.

"They decided to take the weakest out first." The boys aged 11 to 16 are members of the Mu Pa Academy Mae Sai football club and have been trapped inside the Tham Luang cave with their coach, Ekapol Chantawong, 25, since June 23.

Dr Harris was requested by other international divers at the cave site to join the rescue operation.

He has 30 years' diving experience and was involved in the retrieval of the body of stunt diver Agnes Milowka who died at Millicent, South Australia, in 2011.

Eight Australian divers, six from the Australian Federal Police, are part of the 90-strong Thai and international diving team taking part in the operation.

It's also understood the decision to ban the media, totalling about 1000, from the area around the cave entrance on Sunday was to facilitate faster ambulance access to the freeway to get the rescued boys to a football field where they could be taken by helicopter to the Chiang Rai hospital.

The rescue operation is due to resume at 8am on Monday.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is scheduled to visit Chiang Rai in the afternoon. </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.
Divers in Thailand rescue four more boys from the cave Tham Luang Nang Non bringing the total to eight rescued.