Miracle boys found alive in cave after nine days
TWELVE boys from a football team and their coach were miraculously found alive yesterday after being trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand for nine days.
Extraordinary photographs of the children, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old trainer smiling and celebrating were sent to relatives from the underground cavern where the boys were found.
The group had been cut off by flash floods when they went to explore the Tham Luang caves in northern Thailand after football practice on Saturday June 23.
Regional governor Narongsak Osottanakorn said that Thai Navy SEALs assisted by a massive international effort, including British cave-diving experts Richard Stanton, John Volanthen and Robert Harper had found the group alive.
He added: “We found them safe. But the operation isn’t over.
“We will bring food to them and a doctor. I am not sure they can eat as they have not eaten for a while.”
Divers had reached the spot where the boys were found days earlier but they had been forced back by floodwaters.
The labyrinthine six-mile cave network had become completely flooded and clogged with thick mud due to the monsoon weather.
Rescuers used industrial water pumps, sniffer dogs, underwater robots and pneumatic drills to shift rocks but struggled until the heavy rain finally eased yesterday.
A Royal Thai Navy commander overseeing the search had said he was hopeful the boys would find safety from the rising water on a mound called Pattaya Beach.
The rescue team found them 1,300ft from the sand bank.