The 12 boys and their football coach trapped in a flooded cave in northern Thailand and will spend another night almost a kilometer underground. Rescuers are trying best to bring the group to safety and hopeful for a successful outcome.
The boys, who are between 11 and 16 and are members of the Wild Boars soccer team, had been exploring the cave network with their soccer coach on June 23, when heavy seasonal rains flooded the cave’s entrance, forcing the group further and further into the labyrinth of tunnels in search of high ground.
Seven divers, including a doctor and a nurse, joined the group inside the caves in the north of the country after they were discovered alive on Monday. Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda said some of the players can’t swim, further complicating the arduous task of a rescue.
Their sudden disappearance sparked a desperate nine-day race against time as hundreds of volunteers and specialist international search teams battled against the heavy rains to locate the missing group. and at one point were removing an estimated 1.6 million liters of water an hour.
Thai Navy SEAL Chief Rear Admiral Aphakorn Yoo-kongkaew told on Monday, “now we have given food to the boys, starting with food that is easy to digest and provides high energy,” he said. “We have taken care of those boys following the doctor’s recommendation. So do not worry, we will take care of them with our best. We will bring all of them with safety. We are now planning how to do so.”
“The average person can’t imagine how difficult it would be,” said Robert Laird, co-founder of the U.S.-based International Underwater Cave Rescue and Recovery. “These kids are not diving just to go diving. They are in a life-or-death situation.”
Bill Whitehouse, vice chair of the British Cave Rescue Council whose divers found the boys, says rescuers face “significant technical challenges” and serious risks. The Thai rainy season, which can bring unrelenting downpours through November, adds a major wrinkle to the effort, he said.
>Juthy Saha
