Divers search for missing soccer team

Richard C. Paddock BANGKOK — Rescue workers were searching a large cave network in northern Thailand on Monday in the hopes of finding 12 boys and their soccer coach, who have been missing for two days.

Heavy rains have flooded a narrow passage leading into the cave complex, blocking the group’s exit and complicating rescue efforts, officials said.

The drama of the rescue attempt has dominated television news and social media in Thailand, and King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun was said to be following the rescue efforts.

The complex, near the border with Myanmar, is known as Tham Luang Nang Non and is a tourist attraction during the dry season, which usually ends in April.

Divers with a Royal Thai Navy special operations unit used scuba gear to make their way through the flooded passage late Monday afternoon and were searching the main chamber of the cave for the local boys, ages 11 to 16, and their coach, 25.

Passakorn Bunyalak, the deputy governor of the province, said he was confident the group was still alive.

“The kids are athletes and they have skills,” he told reporters. “They are alert all the time. And they are always active. They will try to survive by continuing to move.”

Parents reported the boys missing when the group did not return from team practice Saturday afternoon.

Bicycles, soccer shoes and other equipment were found at the entrance of the complex, which has only one way in and out. Fresh footprints and handprints were found inside, Passakorn said.