US, UK teams join search for 13 missing in Thailand

Rescue effort enters fifth day, but waters rise at 15 cm per hour

MAE SAI, Thailand — A US military team and British cave experts joined the search in northern Thailand for 12 boys and their soccer coach missing for five days inside a cave being flooded by near-constant rain.

A Thai army general coordinating the rescue said on Thursday morning that overnight rain had raised water levels again and authorities switched off power and water pumps for fear of electrical hazards. Power had just been installed a few days earlier to provide lights and better communications and pump out water.

Major General Bancha Duriyapat said Thai Navy SEALs, UK cave-diving experts and a US military team were inside the cave and rescuers were continuing to work despite the rain and setbacks.

At a morning news conference between the Thai SEALs and the US team, the Thais explained that water levels had been rising overnight at a rate of about 15 centimeters per hour, complicating efforts to squeeze through tight passages, some of which require divers to contort their bodies around L-shaped bends.

The missing boys and coach entered the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai province on Saturday afternoon. The cave complex extends several kilometers with narrow passageways and uneven ground and is known to flood severely in rainy season.

Still, authorities have expressed hope there are dry places on higher ground within the cave where the group may be able to wait.

Deputy national police chief Wirachai Songmetta said he would join more than 600 rescuers above ground trying to find shafts that might be possible entrances into the cave. The few shafts found so far did not provide access.

“We won’t give up. That’s the key here,” he said as he got into a vehicle that was part of a convoy carrying rescuers.

US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii confirmed a US team of about 30 people was sent to assist the search. Navy Lieutenant Commander Nicole Schwegman said on Wednesday that a search and rescue team had been sent at the request of Thailand’s government.

Some parents of the missing children have been spending the nights in tents outside the cave entrance as the rain poured. On Thursday morning, a Buddhist monk led a prayer for a small group of relatives, many of them red-eyed and crying during the prayer.

Medics sat in a tent nearby, and bicycles, backpacks and soccer cleats the boys left behind remained at the entrance.