Rescuers rush against time to save team ahead of more rain
Rescuers raced to pump water from a cave in northern Thailand on Tuesday as forecast heavy rain threatened to complicate efforts to free a young soccer team found trapped for 10 days, an ordeal officials warned they may have to bear even longer.
Divers struggling through narrow passages and murky waters found the 12 boys and their coach late on Monday on an elevated rock about 4km from the mouth of the cave. The boys were weak but had only minor injuries.
News of the survival of the Wild Boar team sparked jubilation in a nation gripped by the harrowing drama, with news websites and Facebook users celebrating their discovery and hailing the rescuers as heroes.
“Thank you all Thais, thank you all foreigners, everybody is a hero and everybody helped each other,” Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters.
A video shot by the rescuers in flickering torchlight revealed boys clad in shorts and red and blue shirts sitting or standing on the rock above water.
“How many of you are there — 13? Brilliant,” a member of the multinational team tells the boys in English. “You have been here 10 days. You are very strong.” “Thank you,” one boy said. Another asked when they will get out, to which the rescuer answered: “Not today. You have to dive.”
Aged between 11 and 16, the boys went missing with their 25-year-old coach after training on June 23, when they set out to explore the caves. Rescuers now have to decide how best to get the group out safely, and warned it could take time.
Rain continued to fall in Chiang Rai and was forecast to intensify from Wednesday, pushing authorities to double efforts to reduce water levels in the cave and try to get the boys out sooner. “If it rains too much, water levels will rise and make getting them out harder,” Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda told reporters.
At the Tham Luang cave complex, security personnel turned away scores of people who came to show their support as more journalists arrived, joining hundreds of media who have covered the drama blowby-blow for more than a week.
Two British divers experienced in cave rescues, John Volanthen and Rick Stanton, were first to reach the boys and were accompanied by a team of Thai navy divers.
The lucky 13 have been given energy gels to sustain them while extraction plans are being worked out. A navy team was still with the boys and lights, a power supply and communications equipment were being installed. Options on Tuesday included waiting until water levels subside or teaching the group to use diving gear to navigate the flooded cave.
“Helping the kids will take time,” said navy chief, Admiral Naris Pratoomsuwan, adding it took three hours to reach the place where they were found.
The divers had focused on an elevated mound, which cavers have named Pattaya Beach, knowing that it could have provided the boys with a refuge when rains flooded the cave.
Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osottanakorn said the divers reached Pattaya Beach but found it flooded. The team was 400m away. Relatives waiting at a nearby shelter were seen cheering, smiling and receiving calls after hearing the boys had been found.