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Twelve boys missing in Thai cave found alive after nine days | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Rescuers are working to free 12 missing boys and their football coach who have been found alive nine days after going missing in a flooded cave in Thailand, local authorities have said. | |
The governor of Chiang Rai province, Narongsak Osottanakorn, said Thai navy Seals had found the group in the six-mile Tham Luang Nang Non cave, on the border with Laos and Myanmar, “all with signs of life”. | |
He said, in comments broadcast nationwide, that the 13 were in the process of being rescued, but warned that he did not know their condition and they not were out of danger yet. “We found them safe. But the operation isn’t over,” he said. | |
The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach went missing after entering the cave on 23 June and being trapped by rising floodwater, prompting a desperate round-the-clock search beset by torrential downpours that stopped divers going in. | |
The international rescue effort has gripped Thailand. Cave diving experts flew in from the UK, and 17 US air force rescue and survival specialists travelled from Japan to join the 132 Thai army, navy and police officers working day and night to try to find the group. | The international rescue effort has gripped Thailand. Cave diving experts flew in from the UK, and 17 US air force rescue and survival specialists travelled from Japan to join the 132 Thai army, navy and police officers working day and night to try to find the group. |
US navy Seals reached a T-junction deep into the cave, one or two miles from where the boys were believed to be, on Saturday. Other divers including Thai Seals made progress through the passageway on Monday, after the high waters began to recede. | |
Narongsak said they had been fixing rope lines along the passageway and distributed oxygen tanks along their route, allowing them to advance through the exceptionally narrow passageway unencumbered by bulky equipment. Other teams worked to pump out floodwater and divert groundwater, he said. | |
Several teams trekked into the thick jungle above the cave, desperately looking for new openings that might lead to the trapped boys. One group drilled into a 40-metre chimney that led to a muddy chamber, and helicopters carrying food, water and medical supplies were dispatched to the area. | |
The boys, members of the Moo Pa academy, reportedly knew the site well and had visited it many times before, buoying hopes that they might have trekked to a large airy chamber in the centre. | |
They cycled to the cave with their coach after football practice and are thought to have crawled in through a narrow 15-metre tunnel that became completely flooded due to almost non-stop heavy rain. | They cycled to the cave with their coach after football practice and are thought to have crawled in through a narrow 15-metre tunnel that became completely flooded due to almost non-stop heavy rain. |
“These are challenging conditions and there’s a lot of consideration for safety as well as, the environment outside is contributing to the environment inside,” said Jessica Tait, a US air force captain who is part the operation. | |
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