Thai cave rescue picks up pace as rain eases

The frantic effort to locate 12 boys and their football coach missing in a cave in Thailand for a week has picked up pace.

A break in the rain eased flooding in the system of caverns and more experts from around the world joined the anxious rescue mission.

The search in the northern province of Chiang Rai has been going slowly, largely because flooding has blocked rescuers from going through chambers to get deeper into the cave.

Pumping out water hasn’t solved the problem, so the attention has focused on finding shafts on the mountainside that might serve as a back door to the blocked-off areas where the missing may be sheltering.

The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach entered the sprawling Tham Luang Nang Non cave after a football game on June 23, but nearconstant rains have thwarted the search for them. Authorities have nevertheless expressed hope that the group has found a dry place within the cave to wait.

A medical evacuation drill was held to see how long it would take to get rescued people out of the cave into 13 ambulances and to the nearest hospital.

Australian police and military personnel joined other multinational teams, including US military personnel and experts from a British cave exploration club.

China sent a six-person team of rescue and disaster experts to the cave. A second, private Chinese group also arrived. Chiang Rai Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn said the falling water level in the cave has helped the rescue effort considerably.

Thai Navy Seal divers have been stymied by muddy water reaching the cave’s ceiling.