PRAY FOR THOSE POOR BOYS

LIKE millions, I have nightmares about the lost boys in Thailand. How can they bear it? How can their parents bear it? And how can rescuers get them out before the monsoon rains come? It is like the plot of a thrilling Spielberg movie, except that it is all too sickeningly real. A dozen junior footballers and their coach have been trapped in a flooded cave for nearly two weeks. They were found sitting on a muddy ledge 2.5 miles into the cave network in the Chiang Rai province. What the hell are they doing there? Their poor coach is going to have some explaining to do when — and if — they come out. Two heroic British cave divers found them — three hours down a flooded tunnel into what must seem like the centre of the Earth. Now Thai Navy Seals, nurses, soldiers and a doctor are tending to the group. They might have to be taught to swim and dive in a race against time and tide to escape — a storm is expected today. Those poor boys. Their poor families. If you have prayers to spare, send them now.