4 more rescued from flooded Thai cave

Rescue workers in Thailand brought out on Monday four more boys from a group of 12 and their soccer coach trapped for more than two weeks in a flooded cave complex, a navy official said, hours after the rescue mission resumed.

A Reuters witness near the Tham Luang cave in the northern province of Chiang Rai saw medical personnel carrying a person, wrapped in green sheets and lying flat, into an ambulance close to the mouth of the cave.

“Yes, one has come out already,” a navy official told Reuters. He declined to give any details.

The operations to extract the children resumed after more than 10 hours from the first phase on Sunday, during which four boys were safely rescued and sent to a hospital.

While announcing the second phase of the extraction, rescue operations chief Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters on Monday afternoon that they would have “good news in the next few hours”.

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 drenched the area and flooded the tunnels.

British divers found the 13, huddled on a muddy bank in a partly flooded chamber several kilometres inside the complex, on Mondaylastweek. Thefirstfour boys were brought out on Sunday and were in good condition in hospital, officials said.

CHIANG RAI (THAILAND):