Team to drill into cave to find boys

THAM LUANG CAVE, Thailand — Thai authorities said Thursday that they believed members of a youth soccer team trapped in a flooded cave complex could have reached a large, dry cavern and officials were considering drilling through the mountaintop to reach them.

With the search for the team growing ever more urgent on its sixth day, Lt. Gen. Kraiboon Suadsong, commissioner of the Police Strategy Office, said a team would first try drilling a small hole through the rock above the cavern to allow a camera to be lowered in.

“We will drill and use an infrared camera that can take photos,” he said in an interview with the New York Times. “We know the spot where we should be drilling.”

Kraiboon said crews had tripled the volume of water being pumped from the interior of the flooded cave system, which could help make its submerged passageways accessible.

The search for the boys, ages 11 to 16, and their coach, Ekkapol Chantawong, 25, has captivated Thailand and brought together a polarized nation in the hope that the boys could be rescued from Tham Luang Cave, a popular attraction in northern Thailand.

Among those aiding the search efforts is a team of 17 U.S. Air Force rescue and survival specialists, who arrived early Thursday from their base in Okinawa, Japan.

“The team is assessing the environment and developing courses of action,” said Jillian Bonnardeaux, of the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok. “All options for rescue operations are being considered in close coordination with Thai rescue personnel.”

Three expert cave divers from Britain have also joined the search.

Near the cave, at the nearby headquarters of Tham LuangKhun Nam Nang Non Forest Park, more than 50 family members waited for word of the missing.

Close by, many hundreds of soldiers, park rangers and workers from a dozen government agencies provided support services or stood by in the thick mud waiting for their next assignment. Dozens of journalists were on hand to record the progress of the search.

The soccer players and their coach went to the cave Saturday afternoon after their team practice, riding their bikes past a sign warning visitors not to enter the cave from July to November because of the danger of flooding during the rainy season.

Rain began falling after they were inside and rising water trapped them.

At one point along the trail, some boys left their bags, officials said. At another, they left their shoes.

Rescue workers, including Royal Thai Navy divers, have not been able to precisely locate the group within the vast cave complex despite repeated attempts, officials said.

At this stage, it is not clear how much of the cave, which extends about seven miles, has been searched.

Kraiboon said authorities had concluded that the athletes would have fled the rising water and made it to a cavern called Pattaya Beach, a well-known feature of the cave more than three miles from the entrance.

“This spot is on higher ground and the spot is vast,” he said. “There’s enough air for them to breathe. We therefore assessed the situation that they should be in this spot.”