THEY’RE OUT!
Divers guide remaining young footballers out of flooded cave after 18-day ordeal
The remaining four Thai boys and their football coach were rescued last night from the flooded cave where they had been trapped for 18 days.
The extraordinary rescue of all 12 boys and their coach ended a tense three-day drama as divers carefully brought the stranded group to safety.
Doctors said the boys rescued earlier were in fine spirits and remarkable health considering their extended underground ordeal. All the boys were in a hospital isolation ward.
The extraordinary effort to rescue 12 Thai boys and their football coach ended in success last night when the last of the trapped group emerged from a cave.
Rescuers spent about eight hours in the cave complex guiding the boys to safety on a third day of operations. The last group was underground for 18 days.
They came out in an intense twohour period last night, with what was reported to be the coach of the Wild Boar team and the last boy reaching the entrance of the cave shortly after 11pm NZT.
Thai authorities have been reluctant to confirm any rescues until the end of each day but a flurry of ambulances and helicopters has tended to be a giveaway.
News agency Reuters said a witness saw two people being carried out of the cave on stretchers.
A medic and three Thai Navy Seals have stayed with the boys since they were discovered huddled together on a small, dry shelf 800 metres underground in the flooded cave on July 2 and would also be brought out with the boys.
The final operation to bring out all the remaining people began at 10am local time (3pm NZT).
“We expect that everybody will be out today, the children and coach and everybody will be out today,” said mission commander and Governor of Chiang Rai province Narongsak Osottanakorn, yesterday afternoon.
The youngest boy in the group, aged 11, is thought to be in the final rescue taking place overnight.
The eight boys brought out by divers over the previous two days are in “high spirits” and have strong immune systems because they are football players, a senior health official said yesterday.
Doctors were being cautious because of the infection risk and were isolating the boys in the hospital. They did get a treat, however — bread with chocolate spread that they’d requested.
The plight of the boys and their coach has riveted Thailand and much of the world — from the heart-sinking news they were missing to the first flickering video of the huddle of anxious yet smiling boys when they were found 10 days later by a pair of British divers.
They were trapped in the Tham Luan Nang Non cave that became flooded by monsoon rains while they were exploring it after a football practice on June 23.
Jedsada Chokdumrongsuk, permanent secretary at the Public Health Ministry, said the first four boys rescued, aged 12 to 16, are now able to eat normal food, though they can’t yet take the spicy dishes favoured by many Thais.
Two of the boys possibly have a lung infection but all eight are generally “healthy and smiling,” he said.
“The kids are footballers so they have high immune systems,” Jedsada said. “Everyone is in high spirits and are happy to get out.
“But we will have a psychiatrist to evaluate them.”
It could be at least seven days before they can be released from hospital, Jedsada told a news conference.
Family members have seen at least some of the boys from behind a glass isolation barrier, and Jedsada said doctors may let the boys walk around their beds today.
It was clear doctors were taking a cautious approach. Jedsada said they were uncertain what type of infections the boys could face “because we have never experienced this kind of issue from a deep cave”.
The first eight to be evacuated have all been given inoculations against rabies and tetanus, and are all being treated with antibiotics amid fears they may have been bitten by disease-carrying bats inside the huge underground cave network.
Among the first things the children told medical staff were “we miss home” and “we’re happy”, he added.
If medical tests show no dangers, after two more days parents will be able to enter the isolation area dressed in sterilised clothing and staying 2m away from the boys, said Tosthep Bunthong, the Chiang Rai public health chief.
The second group of four rescued on Monday are aged 12 to
14.
Heavy rains in the morning cleared during the day, a reassuring sign for rescuers who have feared monsoon rains could imperil the rescue.
Officials scotched any chance of using US tech billionaire Elon Musk’s mini sub made of rocket parts to rescue the remaining boys.