‘Cave’ football team ‘found safe’

BOYS AND COACH MUST STILL BE EXTRACTED ‘Food and a doctor will be taken to them ... they will be taken care of until they can move.’

Twelve boys and their football coach trapped in a flooded Thai cave for nine days were “found safe” late yesterday in a miracle rescue after days of painstaking searching by specialist divers through muddy waters and winding tunnels.

There had been no contact with the boys, aged between 11 and 16, since they went missing with their 25-year-old coach the previous Saturday.

The massive rescue effort had for days been hampered by heavy rains that flooded the Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand, blocking access to chambers where it was hoped the group would be found alive.

But late yesterday, Chiang Rai’s provincial governor broke the news of their rescue, delighting a nation which has anxiously followed every twist and turn of the dramatic effort to save them.

“We found all 13 safe ... we will take care of them until they can move,” Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters, who broke into spontaneous applause.

“We will bring food to them and a doctor who can dive. I am not sure they can eat as they have not eaten for a while.”

Divers took advantage of a brief window of good weather yesterday to edge further into the cave, with the water levels dropping slowly but steadily every hour thanks to round-the-clock pumping.

They had hoped to find the “Wild Boar” team on an elevated ledge dubbed “Pattaya beach”.

But the boys had retreated 300400 metres further as the ledge was submerged, said Narongsak.

The team’s travails appear far from over with a complex operation predicted to try to bring the group several kilometres through the cave – which is still partially submerged.

Loved ones, friends and teachers of the Wild Boar team refused to give up hope of seeing the young players again, holding an increasingly desperate vigil at the cave entrance.

Tinnakorn Boonpiem, whose 12-year-old son Mongkol is among the 13, reacted with joy.

“I’m so glad ... I want him to be physically and mentally fit. I am afraid he will be mentally affected by this incident.”

Thailand has been a nation transfixed by the plight of the Wild Boar team, with social media lighting up in support of the group and the country’s deeply spiritual reflexes stirred into action.

Shamans and Buddhist monks have held prayers and given offerings at the cave. – AFP

Picture: AFP DELIGHT. Family members of one of the missing boys celebrate while camping out near Than Luang cave following news all members of the football team and their coach were found alive yesterday.