A Royal Thai Police helicopter carrying rescued schoolboys lands at a military airport in the northern province of Chiang Rai. — Reuters photo
CHIANG RAI, Thailand: Four of 12 schoolboys have been rescued so far from a flooded Thai cave after divers launched a daring and dangerous mission to free the children and their soccer coach, who were trapped underground for more than two weeks, Thai officials said.
Thirteen foreign divers and five members of Thailand’s elite navy SEAL unit are trying to bring the rest of the boys – some as young as 11 and weak swimmers – through narrow, submerged passageways that claimed the life of a former Thai navy diver on Friday.
A helicopter flew some of the boys to the nearby city of Chiang Rai where they were taken by ambulance to hospital.
As night fell, the operation to rescue the remaining eight boys and their coach was called off until Monday morning.
The rescue of the first six was a stunning victory in an operation Narongsak had earlier dubbed “Mission Impossible”, and led to cautious optimism that the others would also be saved.
Another official involved in the rescue operation said the initial six who had been saved formed a first group.
A second group made up of the others had also begun the journey from the chamber where they had been trapped, a rescue worker said.
The quick extraction came as a surprise after one of the operation commanders said on Sunday morning the rescue efforts could take several days to complete.
The group was found dishevelled and hungry by British cave diving specialists nine days after they ventured in.
Their ordeal has drawn huge media attention in Thailand and abroad, and getting the boys out safely could be a boost for Thailand’s ruling junta ahead of a general election next year.
“Today is D-Day,” Narongsak Osottanakorn, head of the rescue mission, had earlier told reporters.
Bursts of heavy monsoon rain soaked the Tham Luang Cave area in northern Chiang Rai province on Sunday and storms were expected in the coming weeks, increasing the risks in what has been called a “war with water and time” to save the team.
People watch as an ambulance allegedly carrying some of the rescued boys leaving the military airport in Chiang Rai to a nearby hospital as divers evacuated some of the 12 boys and their coach trapped at Tham Luang cave in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province. — AFP photo
The boys, aged between 11 and 16, went missing with their 25-year-old coach after soccer practice on June 23, setting out on an adventure to explore the cave complex near the border with Myanmar and celebrate a boy’s birthday.
“The rescue teams had rehearsed the plan for several days and had managed to drain the water level in the cave considerably, but needed to move fast,” Narongsak said.
“If we wait and the rain comes in the next few days we will be tired again from pumping and our readiness would drop. If that’s the case, then we have to reassess the situation.”
The boys were discovered by British divers Richard Stanton and John Volanthen last Monday.
Of the 13-strong foreign dive team – mainly from Europe – three were escorting the children, while the remainder were positioned along the dangerous first kilometre stretch, where the boys will have to navigate through submerged passageways in some places no more than two feet (0.6 metre) wide.
Thirteen medical teams were stationed outside the cave – each with its own helicopter and ambulance – one for each of 12 boys and their coach.
After an initial assessment at the site, the plan was to airlift the boys to a makeshift helipad close to the Chiang Rai Prachanukroh hospital, some 70 km away.
A source at the hospital said that five emergency response doctors were awaiting the party and a further 30 doctors were on stand-by, adding that everyone was feeling tense.
“The teams here are happy the boys are being rescued but also anxious about the severity of the boys’ conditions. We’re under a lot of pressure,” she said. — Reuters