RESCUE EFFORTS BEGIN FOR TRAPPED BOYS

MAE SAI, Thailand: Elite divers on Sunday began the extremely dangerous operation to extract 12 boys and their football coach who have been trapped in a flooded cave complex in northern Thailand for more than two weeks, as looming monsoon rains threatened the rescue effort. The “Wild Boars” team’s plight has transfixed Thailand and the rest of the world, as authorities have struggled to devise a plan to get the boys and their coach out of the Tham Luang cave complex through twisting, narrow and jagged passageways that in some places are completely flooded. “Today is the D- day. The boys are ready to face any challenges,” rescue chief Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters near the cave site as weather forecasters warned of more monsoon rains late on Sunday that would cause more flooding in the cave. Narongsak said the first boy was expected to be brought out of the cave by around 9 p. m. ( 1400 GMT), meaning the trip would take around 11 hours. Narongsak said Sunday two divers would accompany each of the boys out of the cave. Rescuers had fed a kilometers- long air pipe into the cave to restore oxygen levels in the chamber where the team was sheltering with medics and divers. More than 100 exploratory holes had also been bored — some shallow, but the longest 400 meters deep — into the mountainside in an attempt to open a second evacuation route and avoid forcing the boys into the dangerous dive.