JUBILATION AS LAST BOYS LEAVE CAVE
THE Tham Luang cave has delivered its miracle, with all 13 members of the Wild Boars football team making it to safety in a remarkable rescue mission that has gripped the world.
The remaining four boys last night successfully swam through the flooded passages to make it out accompanied by the team’s coach Ekapol Chanthawong, who led the youngsters into the cave system on June 23 to begin their excruciating ordeal.
“We are not sure if this is a miracle, a science, or what. All the thirteen Wild Boars are now out of the cave,” the Thai Navy SEALs said in a Facebook post. “All are safe” it added.
The news was greeted by cheers and applause from volunteers gathered near the entrance to the cave.
Messages of congratulation also flooded in from world leaders.
THE Tham Luang cave has delivered its miracle, with all 13 members of the Wild Boars football team making it to safety in one of the most inspiring rescue missions the world has witnessed.
Cheers and applause rang out among volunteers and rescue workers gathered at the entrance to the cave system after Thai Navy SEALs announced that all 12 boys and their coach, Ekapol Chanthawong, had been successfully evacuated.
The extraordinary rescue brought to an end the 18-day ordeal for the young team, which had kept the Thai nation on tenterhooks, swinging between grief and elation.
It is understood Australian anaesthetist Richard Harris administered a mild sedative to all of the boys prior to departing the ledge where they had been trapped, in order to relax them during the swim. Prime Minister Prayut Chano-cha confirmed the boys had been given medicine “so the children won’t panic, just like we take anti-allergy so we feel OK and are not excited”.
It is believed the last four boys evacuated last night – Chain Wibulrungreung, 11; Sompong Jaiwong, 13; Mongkol Boonpium, 14; and Pornchai Khamluang, 16 – wore wetsuits and full-face masks, meaning they did not need to make any effort breathing as they were swum through flooded chambers.
Governor Narongsak Osotthanakorn earlier said that 19 divers were in the cave, ahead of schedule, preparing for the final extraction in what has been a mission of remarkable precision and international teamwork.
Mr Narongsak said he had relied on the judgment of the diving team that they could bring out all five of those still trapped, rather than the four he had earlier predicted.
“We hope that today (Tuesday) we can bring the four, plus one,” he said.
Two of the eight who came out in sets of four on Sunday and Monday have been diagnosed with mild pneumonia at Chang rai hospital, 60km south of the cave system.
They are being treated with intravenous drips and are said to be responding well.
“We expected them all to have pneumonia, and came up with preventive measures, but most of them haven’t got pneumonia,” Mr Narongsak said.
The last day of the operation was moving even faster than the previous two days, with evacuation times sharply cut with the diving rescue team now more familiar with the dangerous route to safety.
The youngsters wore fullbody wetsuits to keep warm for the journey amid reports that what days ago was a fivehour slog in pitch black darkness through flooded chambers and a risky chokepoint tunnel has been cut down to only three hours.
It is understood the boys received initial medical attention for several hours at chamber 3, where the rescuers set up their underground staging camp, before they continued their journey.
Mr Narongsak said despite heavy overnight rain, water levels were stable, meaning divers were able to position oxygen tanks along the route more quickly.