Another cave flooding threat

RACE AGAINST TIME: SOCCER TEAM’S TRIALS NOT OVER

Boys are weak but still face underwater ordeal to reach safety.

Rescuers raced to pump water from a cave in northern Thailand yesterday as forecasted 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 longer.

Divers struggled through narrow passages and murky waters to find the 12 boys and their coach on Monday night on an elevated rock about 4km from the mouth of the cave.

News of the boys’ survival sparked jubilation in a nation that has been gripped by the harrowing drama.

A video shot by rescuers in flickering torchlight revealed boys – aged between 11 and 16 – clad in shorts and red and blue shirts sitting or standing on the rock above an expanse of water.

“How many of you are there – 13? Brilliant,” a member of the rescue team, speaking in English, tells the boys. “You have been here 10 days. You are very strong.”

“Thank you,” one of the boys says.

One boy asks when they will get out, to which the rescuer answers: “Not today. You have to dive.” The boys were found in weak condition but with only minor injuries.

Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda said rescuers needed to double down to reduce water levels in the cave.

Rain continued to fall in Chiang Rai yesterday and was forecast to intensify from today.

“Quickly pump out water first to get the kids out as soon as possible,” Anupong told reporters. “If it rains too much, water levels will rise and make getting them out harder.”

Two British divers, John Volanthen and Rick Stanton, were first to reach the boys, having had strong experience in cave rescues, according to Bill Whitehouse of the British Cave Rescue Council.

They found the group, along with a team of Thai navy SEAL divers.