Sand and mud block cave rescue mission

A MAJOR search and rescue operation is under way after 12 boys and their football coach went missing in a flooded cave in northern Thailand.

The boys, aged 11 to 15, are believed to have entered the Tham Luang Nang Non cave with their coach late on Saturday afternoon.

A mother reported that her son hadn’t returned from football training, setting off the search.

During an attempt at dawn today, divers were unable to reach a large chamber deep inside the cave where the students might be, said an official at the forest park in Chiang Rai province.

The passage to the chamber is extremely small, flooded and “covered with sand and mud”, said Kamolchai Kotcha.

Rescue teams have found “traces” of the group inside the cave, police said.