Rain could hamper cave rescue

Thai authorities mull having boys, coach swim out

MAE SAI, Thailand — Heavy rains forecast for northern Thailand could worsen flooding in a cave where 12 boys and their soccer coach are waiting to be extracted by rescuers, possibly forcing authorities to have them swim out through a narrow underwater passage in the cavern, a top official said Tuesday.

The 13, who disappeared June 23 after a soccer game, were found late Monday night in the cavern in northern Chiang Rai province.

The boys and their coach were described as healthy and being looked after by seven members of the Thai navy SEALS who were staying with them inside the cave. They were mostly in stable condition.

While efforts to pump out floodwaters are continuing, it’s clear that some areas of the sprawling cavern cannot be drained, said Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda. In order to get them out ahead of the bad weather forecast for later in the week, they might need to use diving gear while being guided by professional divers, he said.

Anupong said the boys would be brought out via the same complicated route through which their rescuers entered.

“Diving is not easy. For people who have never done it, it will be difficult, unlike diving in a swimming pool, because the cave’s features have small channels,” he said.

Video released by the Thai navy showed the boys in their soccer uniforms sitting in a dry area inside the Tham Luang Nang Non cave.

SEAL commander Rear Adm. Arpakorn Yookongkaew said there was no rush to bring them out, since they’re safe where they are.

A doctor and a nurse were with them in the cave.

“We have given the boys food, starting from easily digested and high-powered food with enough minerals,” Arpakorn told a news conference.

Having them dive out of the cave was one of several options being considered, “but if we are using this plan, we have to be certain that it will work and have to have a drill to make sure that it’s 100 percent safe,” he said.

Cave diver Ben Reymenants, part of the team assisting the rescue effort, told NBC’S “Today” show that he was “very surprised obviously that they are all alive and actually mentally also healthy.”

Reymenants said the easiest option would be to “keep pumping the water out of the cave. They need another 3 or 4 feet so they can literally float them out with life jackets.”

Authorities said efforts would continue outside the cave, where teams have been scouring the mountainside for other entrances to the caverns. Several fissures have been found, and teams have explored some, although so far none lead to the trapped boys.