ThiS iS WhAT hAS hAPPENED SO FAR

> The youngsters, aged between 11 and 16, and their 25-year-old coach, go missing on June 23 as they enter the Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand during heavy rains after a football practice.

> They were reported missing by a mother after her son does not come home that night.

> Local officials find bicycles locked to a fence and shoes and football boots close to the entrance.

> Park officials and police find handprints and footprints believed to belong to the boys.

> Relatives start to keep a vigil outside the cave.

> Thai Navy SEAL divers enter the cave searching for the boys.

> Makeshift shrines are set up for parents to pray and make offerings as heavy rains continue.

> Divers reach a T-junction several kilometres inside the cave.

> A team of more than 30 American military personnel from the US Pacific Command arrive, including pararescue and survival specialists.

> They are joined by three British diving experts who enter the cave but quickly retreat in the face of heavy flooding.

> The underwater rescue is temporarily halted after downpours bring fast-moving floods inside the cave. > Water pumps are shipped in to drain the rising, murky floodwaters and drones are dispatched to help find new vents in the cave roof. > Thailand’s junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha visits the site, leads a meditation and jokes and cooks with relatives, asking them not to give up hope.

> A break in the rain allows divers to reach further inside the cave but they are still a long distance from where the boys are believed to be. > Finally the 12 boys and their coach are found alive on July 2 near Pattaya Beach. > Crowds at the rescue site cheer the good news, but attention soon turns to the difficult task of getting the boys out safely.

> On Sunday, July 8, Thai rescuers manage to extract four members of the soccer team in a risky operation.