Thailand cave boys: Rescuers race against time to free trapped team
RESCUERS desperately fighting to free a young football team from a cave in Thailand face a race against time as flood waters rise.
The 12 boys and their football coach have been stranded among the narrow and winding passageways of Tham Luang Nang Non since June 23 and were found on Monday.
Rescue teams have been pumping water from inside the cave as they prepare to remove the youngsters and bring an end to their harrowing ordeal.
However the navy has raised the possibility that the 13 could be in the cave in Chiang Rai province until the flood waters recede, at the end of the rainy season in four months.
Before he was a youth football coach, Ekapol Chanthawong spent a decade as a Buddhist monk, honing a skill that likely is to serve him well while he’s trapped for days in a dark cave: meditation.
Though the coach and the boys have all been described as mostly healthy, the mental toll of their ordeal could worsen the longer the situation lasts.
Experts say the group’s advantages include their youth, their group identity and, indeed, their coach’s experience with mediation. Thailand’s Department of Mental Health said hospitals are preparing to care for the group.
A Thai navy Seals who has spent time with the boys in the cave has said they asked about the World Cup results.
It comes as the Japanese squad that competed in Russia tweeted a good-luck message to the boys.
The message urged them in Japanese: “Don’t give up! Hang on!”
Japanese Football Association president Kohzo Tashiima praised the national team for sending the public message of support. “I would like to pray with everyone here so that they are safely rescued,” he added at a news conference at Japan’s Narita airport.
Some relatives of the boys have gathered early on Thursday near the cave as rescue operations continue.
One mother said she had not been able to contact her boy.
“We can’t send them messages yet,” said Ratdao Chantrapul, 37, the mother of 14-year-old Prajak Sutham.
“Yesterday, they tried to take in mobile phones but the bag it was in broke,” she said. — AFP