4 boys are out in cave hell rescue
MIRACLE OF THE CAVES: HERO
THE first four boys have been dramatically saved from the flooded Thai cave where they have been trapped for two weeks.
A daring rescue was launched yesterday, with up to 10 British specialists involved in the six-hour bid to bring the exhausted lads back up to dry land.
They had to dive, wade and clamber in total darkness through narrow tunnels.
Eight more football players and their coach, 25, remain stranded two-and-ahalf miles inside the waterlogged caves.
Celebrating the arrival of the four boys, who were airlifted to hospital, rescue mission leader Narongsak Osottanakorn said: “It has been our masterpiece work.”
But he added: “Our job is not completely done. We will have to do the next mission as successfully as the one we did today.”
The high-risk operation at the Tham Luang caves paused overnight as rescuers recovered and oxygen tanks were replenished along the route. It will resume today. Experts warned the mission could take four days to complete.
The first boys had to dive more than half a mile through flooded tunnels to safety. With a few days’ diving training, they squeezed through a terrifying underwater gap barely 38cm wide. Oxygen tanks must be removed to pass.
Torchlight affords visibility up to three feet in the murky waters so the boys, aged from 11 to 16, must feel their way along guide ropes which have been tethered the entire length of the cave journey.
They were fitted with full-face diving masks, harder to dislodge underwater than a traditional respirator, and each one was tethered to two divers, who will
It has been our masterpiece work but our job is not done, we’ve only won a small battle NARONGSAK OSOTTANAKORN, RESCUE LEADER, ON FIRST SUCCESS
carry air tanks for them. One official reportedly named three of the freed lads as Nattawut “Tle” Takamsai, 11, Prajak Sutham, 14, and Pipat Bodhi, 15.
Their Wild Boars teammates must make the same treacherous trip to daylight, which could take eight gruelling hours depending on conditions.
Though the first mission was a success, it could easily have ended in catastrophe for the inexperienced swimmers.
Elite diver Samarn Kunan, 38, a former Thai navy SEAL, died trying to escape the maze of flooded tunnels last week.
And the danger is far from over for those still waiting on the ledge they were found on half a mile underground, as anxious families pray for their return.
Rescuers went ahead with the “last resort” mission after it emerged the lads cannot sit out the rainy season because water levels could get too high.
Hopes of finding an alternative route into the mountain cave network in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand, have also been exhausted. Workers had been seen