Tears of joy for parents as they receive letters from cave boys
Notes written by trapped youngsters offer families hope, as officials say rescue conditions are perfect
PHIPHAT PHOTI’S message to his family from the depths of Thailand’s Tham Luang cave was short and hopeful. “If I get out, please can you bring me some grilled pork and vegetables?” the 15-year-old wrote.
He and the other 11 trapped boys wrote the letters in the darkness of the cave, which were then delivered to their parents by Thai Navy Seal divers.
The short notes, written on scraps of paper, were the first communication the anxious parents have had from their children since they disappeared on June 23.
“I am so happy to see his letter, his handwriting. I’m almost crying,” said Supaluk Sompiengjai, the mother of one of the boys. “It doesn’t matter how long I wait as long as he is safe.”
Thai authorities said yesterday that conditions for a rescue were ideal over the next few days, before fresh rainfall or shrinking oxygen supplies endanger the mission.
“In the next three or four days, the conditions are perfect in terms of the water, the weather and the boys’ health,” said Narongsak Osottanakorn, the governor of Chiang Rai Province. “We have to make a clear decision on what we can do… We’re still at war with water and time.”
Rescue crews have been working around the clock to pump water out of the 2.5-mile tunnel that separates the boys, who are part of a football team, and their coach, from the entrance to the cave. While water levels have fallen significantly, the tunnel still contains treacherous pools and jagged rocks that would be a challenge for even professional divers, let alone a dozen exhausted youngsters.
By yesterday evening, pouring rain began once again to pound the area around the cave’s entrance, raising fears that the tunnel would flood once more. Rising water levels could delay a rescue effort – or force authorities to launch it sooner than they had planned to try to get in before the tunnel floods.
Mr Osottanakorn said he was also worried that oxygen levels inside the cave would fall and carbon dioxide lev- els would rise, making the boys drowsy and eventually unconscious.
The most direct method of rescue would be for the boys to swim out of the cave wearing scuba gear and ac- companied by navy divers. The boys are already being given instructions in diving techniques.
But the journey could take more than 10 hours. The death of a Thai Navy Seal in the tunnel this week highlights how dangerous it is.
More than 100 “chimneys” have also been drilled into the mountainside, in the hope that rescuers can penetrate the cave and lift the boys out to safety.
Mr Osottanakorn said the boys were 600 metres below the surface and digging crews “still cannot find their location yet”. The deepest chimney so far has reached 400 metres.
Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur, said yesterday that he was in discussions about an “escape pod design that might be safe enough to try” to bring the boys out of the tunnel.
Ekapol Chanthawong, the 25-yearold coach of the Wild Boars football team, wrote his own letter from the cave. “I promise I will care for the kids as best as possible. I want to say thanks for all the support and I want to apologise to the parents,” he wrote.
His note was written in response to a joint letter from the parents of the 12 boys.
“Please take care of all the children. Don’t blame yourself,” their letter to him read. “We are not mad at you at all. We understand and are rooting for you. Thanks for helping and taking care of the kids.”
Football’s world governing body, FIFA, has offered to fly the Thai boys and their coach to the World Cup Final in Moscow on July 15 if they are rescued in time.