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Thai rescuers no closer to deciding when and how to extract 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave.

CHIANG RAI: Rescuers who reached a group of children trapped in a flooded Thai cave say finding them was the easy part; getting the youngsters out safely will be the real challenge.

There is no simple solution for the 12 boys and their football coach, who are being looked after by Thai military divers and an international team of underground rescue experts.

The path back to the entrance is long, cramped and at least partially submerged.

It is possible some of the boys cannot swim, and all have been weakened – physically, and possibly mentally – by 12 nights underground.

Attention has now turned to how to get the group back out through several kilometres of dangerously flooded tunnels.

The navy raised the possibility that the 13 could be in the Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai province until the flood waters recede, at the end of the rainy season in four months.

But others say the boys could be out in a matter of days if the weather is on their side and water can be pumped out of the cave complex, and if they can be taught to use scuba gear.

Kobchai Boonarana, deputy director-general of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation department, said that it was up to the rescue team in the cave to decide whether and when the boys would be strong enough to tackle the journey out.

“Their conditions, we can see that their morale is good but what about their strength and their ability?

“That’s up to the team inside to decide,” Kobchai said yesterday.

“Our job is to keep pumping out water, and it is up to the team inside to assess the safety level and whether the kids can travel safely through,” he said.

Major General Chalongchai Chaiyakum, deputy commander of the Third Army Region, said it takes rescuers 11 hours to do a round-trip from the cave’s entrance to the group and back again while working against water currents.

Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osottanakorn said the group did not have to be brought out of the cave at the same time.

“We are assessing weather conditions, if it rains and the water level rises, how many hours, days do we have,” he said. — Reuters