5 min read
This article is more than 6 years old
Explainer
Thai boys to get food for four months, dive training
Twelve boys and their assistant soccer coach have been found alive by rescuers inside a Thai cave nine days after they went missing.
Published
Updated
Source: AFP, SBS
Image: A family member shows a picture of four of the missing boys. (Getty)
Twelve boys and their football coach found alive in a Thai cave will receive four months' worth of food and diving training, the military said, as focus shifted to the tricky task of evacuating the group from the complex underground system.
The boys aged between 11 and 16, were discovered with their 25-year-old coach late Monday, rake thin but alive, huddled on a ledge deep inside a flooded cave nine days after they became trapped in a pitch black cave hemmed by rising floodwaters.
Much-needed food and medical supplies - including high-calorie gels and paracetamol - reached them Tuesday as rescuers prepared for the possibility that they may be there for some time.
"(We will) prepare to send additional food to be sustained for at least four months and train all 13 to dive while continuing to drain the water," Navy Captain Anand Surawan said, according to a statement from Thailand's Armed Forces.
The miracle rescue sparked jubilation across the country after a gruelling operation beset by heavy downpours and fast-moving flooding floods.
The moment rescuers fond the missing boys in a Thai cave. Source: AAP
Thai workers and associated officials watch to the flooded cave as they attempts to drain the water from the cave. Source: AAP
"We called this mission impossible because it rained every day... but with our determination and equipment we fought nature," Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osottanakorn said Tuesday.
"The doctor advised that we should provide several kind of medicine to prevent infection and other illness," adding that medics had reached the young footballers.
The boys were found late Monday by British divers, with footage showing them emaciated and huddled on a mud mound deep inside the cave.
The moment they were found
Dramatic footage captured the incredible moment specialist divers found the boys and their football coach inside the cave, nine days after they went missing.
Emaciated and bedraggled, the football team was crammed onto a wedge of dry ground surrounded by water deep inside the cave.
The group, mostly seated and with baggy football shirts pulled over their knees and illuminated by torchlight, asked for food and to leave the cave immediately, according to the video taken late Monday and shared on the official Facebook page of the Thai Navy SEALS.
In the video, an unidentified diver, speaking with a British accent, urges the group to stay calm and says "many, many people are coming... we are the first".
The group appeared exhausted, sensitive to the light but lucid, with some speaking faltering English to try to communicate with the unidentified diver.
One child asks "what day?" and another says "we are hungry.. shall we go outside?"
The diver replies "I know, I understand... no, not today. You have been here for 10 days, you are very strong."
A thin child in the foreground appears to bow in gratitude and says "thank you" as his voice falters.
There had been no contact with the boys since they went missing on June 23.
The Thai football team and their coach have been rescued from the cave. Source: Facebook
Scenes of joy
Outside the cave, overjoyed relatives who had clustered near the site in an increasingly desperate vigil hugged and smiled as news of the miracle rescue filtered back.
"I'm so glad ... I want to him to be physically and mentally fit," said Tinnakorn Boonpiem, whose 12-year-old son Mongkol is among the rescued group.
"I found out from the television ... I'm so happy I can't put it into words," another relative of one of the footballer told television reporters with tears of joy streaming down his cheeks.
The mother of one of the boys, Aikarn Wiboonrunreung, said: "Today is the best day. I have been waiting for my son for so many days. I thought he only had a 50 per cent chance of survival. I am so excited. The first thing I will do is hug him. I would like to thank all journalists who are here."
On Monday, Chiang Rai's provincial governor broke the news of the team's rescue by naval divers, delighting a nation which has anxiously followed every twist and turn of the dramatic effort to save them.
Relatives of the missing boys show photos of them after they were found alive. Source: Getty Images AsiaPac
Rescue challenges ahead
But the team's ordeal is far from over with a complex operation predicted to try to bring the group several kilometres through the cave - which is still partially submerged and is linked by tight passages.
Worrying predicted of heavy rains later this week mean rescuers must scramble to shuttle help and supplies to the stranded kids.
Thai soldiers loading cables in the cave during the rescue operation. Source: AAP
Massive rescue effort
Scores of divers - including foreign experts - were sent into the cave with hundreds of oxygen tanks, establishing a base camp inside the chambers over the weekend.
Thai Navy SEAL divers were joined by three British cave divers and a team of American military personnel from the US Pacific Command, including pararescue and survival specialists.
Shamans and Buddhist monks held prayers and gave offerings at the cave imploring mountain "spirits" to return the boys safely.
The boys are trapped inside a cave in Thailand. Source: SBS News
Share
