4 cave boys are rescued
First boys complete gruelling journey to safety thanks to daring mission
Divers rescue the first four boys from the flooded Thai cave where they have been trapped for two weeks.
BY AMY-CLARE MARTIN 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 lads back up to dry land.
The football players, aged between 11 and 16, had to dive, wade and clamber in total darkness through narrow tunnels.
Eight more youngsters 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 only affords visibility up to 3ft in the murky waters. Instead, the boys 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, which are harder to dislodge underwater than a traditional respirator, and each one was tethered to two divers, who carried air tanks for them.
Their Wild Boars teammates must make the same treacherous trip to daylight, which could take eight gruelling hours, depending on conditions.
The first mission was a success but 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 drilling ahead of the rescue.
Officials said it was the best chance of
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
getting them out alive as water levels had dropped by up to 70cm.
However, they remain “at war with water” after torrential showers resumed just hours into the rescue.
Osottanakorn said: “The current situation, with the air and water levels and the boys’ health, is the best yet.
“Today is D-Day. At 10am, 13 foreign divers went in to extract the children, along with five Thai navy SEALs.
“It is only a small battle we’ve won but the war has not ended.
“The war ends when we win all three battles – to search, rescue and send them home.”
The healthiest boys went first. They got the green light from Australian doctor, pro-diver Dr Richard Harris, after 15 nights trapped in the cave.
Chalongchai Chaiyakum, deputy commander of Thailand’s Third Army Region, said: “We will continue the mission until the last one is out. It could be two, three or four days.”
British divers John Volanthen and Rick Stanton are among the 18-strong rescue team. John has warned panic will be the biggest danger, saying: “Panic and adrenaline are great in certain situations but not cave diving.”
Tim Acton, 39, was invited to join the global effort by Thai navy SEALs. He flew from his home in Bangkok, where he lives with wife Took and their young daughter Milly.
Tim, whose parents live near Harwich, Essex, where he went to school, has made several journeys into the caves.
There is a news blackout at the scene but Tim, who moved to the Far East 12 years ago, was able to talk to his dad John yesterday.
John said: “He has been trained for just this sort of situation. He says there is a frantic amount of activity but that the Thai navy team and cave rescuers from all over the world are working together as a terrific team. “Everyone has the same objective – to get everyone out alive.” Meanwhile, 13 fully staffed medical teams have been stationed outside the cave, one for each boy and their coach. Each has its own helicopter and ambulance, at least one doctor, two nurses and a paramedic on standby to take them to hospital in Chiang Rai, 40 miles away.
The group will be examined and also checked for signs of cave disease, a potentially fatal lung infection caused by bat and bird droppings.
Marooned after venturing into the cave after football practice on June 23, they were found alive last Monday.
Bill Whitehouse, of the British Cave Diving Council, praised the rescuers.
He said: “If you are a nonswimming 11-year-old with no experience of diving, who’s been trapped in a cave for 15 days, probably scared out of their wits, there’s a lot that could go wrong.
“Getting somebody in that state of mind through several hundred metres of flooded caves is no mean feat.”
US president Donald Trump also praised the effort, tweeting yesterday: “Very brave and talented people.”