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Thailand cave rescue operation: All the latest updates | News

6:32 AM News , 0 Comments

A rescue mission is under way to evacuate a youth football team and their coach from a cave in northern Thailand, where they have been trapped for two weeks.

Here are all the latest updates: 

Thai navy SEALs say four boys exit cave

  • In a Facebook post, the Thai navy SEALs have said four members of the youth football team had exited the cave as of 19:47 local time (12:47 GMT) 

Six boys have exited cave: official through Reuters

  • A senior member of the rescue medical team has told the Reuters news agency that six boys have now exited the cave.

  • Twelve members of a youth football team, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach have been stuck inside the Tham Luang cave for more than two weeks. 

A military helicopter believed to be carrying rescued schoolboys takes off near Tham Luang cave complex in the northern province of Chiang Rai [Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters]

Four boys reach rescue camp: official to AFP

  • An official has told AFP news agency four boys from the Wild Boars football team have reached the rescue camp inside the Tham Luang cave complex.  

  • The rescue base camp has been set up in chamber three, situated about two kilometres into the cave. 

  • A BBC reporter on the scene has seen a total of four ambulances heading towards the cave. 

Three boys out: Al Jazeera’s Scott Heidler

  • Three boys have made their way out of the cave according to a military source, Al Jazeera’s Scott Heidler has reported.

  • Thailand’s interior minister is reportedly on the way to the field hospital, where the three boys are being assessed, Heidler said. 

  • Two ambulances have been seen leaving Tham Luang and one helicopter has been heard taking off. Helicopters have been waiting to take the members of the football team to Chiang Rai’s state capital where the boys and their coach will be treated in hospital. 

First two members of team recovered: local official through Reuters

  • The first two members of the football team have been recovered from the Tham Luang cave complex, a local official has told Reuters news agency. 

  • “Two kids are out. They are currently at the field hospital near the cave,” Tossathep Boonthong, chief of Chiang Rai’s health department and part of the rescue team, said. 

  • “We are giving them a physical examination. They have not been moved to Chiang Rai hospital yet.”

  • The report has not been confirmed by authorities. 

Inside the Tham Luang cave complex

 

Governor: ‘Unknown’ when first boys will emerge

  • It is “unknown how long it will take before [rescuers] can bring out the first batch of boys,” Chiang Rai Governor Narongsak Osottanakorn has said. 

  • In a press release containing an update on the rescue mission, which has now been under way for more than eight hours, Osottanakorn said “divers will work with medics in the cave to assess the boys’ health before determining who will come out first”. 

  • “They cannot decide how many of them will be able to come out for the first operation. Based on the complexity and difficulty of the cave environment it is unknown how long it might take and how many children would exit the cave,” the statement said. 

Rescue in groups

  • More than seven hours into the operation, the first boys are now expected to be making their way out of the cave complex. 

  • Bangkok Post reported that a source had told them the football team and their coach would be rescued in four batches: one of four and three of three people. 

  • Rescue authorities said the coach will be the last to be brought out, Bangkok Post reported. 

  • There have not been official updates on the operation. 

Rescue operation in pictures

Journalists and non-essential staff are ordered to leave the cave site and surrounding roads at the start of the rescue operation on Sunday [Linh Pham/Getty Images]
A truck carrying oxygen tanks arrives outside the cave complex on Sunday [Tyrone Siu/Reuters]
Ambulances are seen outside the Tham Luang cave complex after media have been ordered out [Tyrone Siu/Reuters]
Nurses stand outside the Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital, where the boys will be brought after their rescue, on Sunday [Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images]

PM to visit on Monday

  • Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha plans to visit the cave site on Monday, according to a government spokesman. 

  • “For the people who are currently bringing the 13 … out of the Tham Luang cave, he wishes safety and success,” government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said. 

  • Some Thais were critical of an earlier visit by Prayuth to the cave, which they considered to be opportunistic, Reuters news agency reported. His government has recently faced pro-democracy protests in the capital, Bangkok. 

Tham Luang cave complex

  • The Tham Luang cave complex in northern Thailand’s Chiang Rai province is 10km long. 

  • The boys and their coach are trapped kilometres deep inside and will have to make their way out through passages, some of which are fully submerged. 

  • Last week, rescue mission chief Narongsak Osottanakorn said the “biggest crisis spot” for diving is a tiny passageway near the Sam Yak junction. 

  • “There is a tunnel that has a passageway going up and coming down narrowly and you have to turn a bit and it’s very small,” Osottanakorn said on July 2.

 

Rescue operation ‘still a huge risk’: cave expert

  • Anmar Mirza, cave expert and US National Cave Rescue Commission coordinator, told Al Jazeera that the boys’ weakness due to nine days of starvation makes the rescue operation very risky. 

  • “It takes a long time to recover and they have simply not had that time. I’m hoping that they have drilled well enough that there aren’t any problems but it’s still a huge risk,” he said. 

  • “The divers have built a level of trust with the boys and that’s part of the psychology of getting them out. In most of the places the diver can be right next to them. There are those few spots where they cannot be side by side, but again they can communicate with them by the fact that they’re just right close there. So, with luck, that keeps them calm.”

‘Please bring me pork’ 

  • On Saturday, the Thai navy SEALs posted notes from the football team on their Facebook page.

Thai navy SEALs vow to bring football team home

Keeping ‘panic element’ out essential: dive expert

  • Preventing the boys from panicking during their rescue is of the essence, New Zealand Diving’s Neil Bennett told Al Jazeera. 

  • “The training up to this point would be really focused on trying to keep them calm, explaining that they’re going to be in poor visibility. Explaining that they have to keep the air supply in their mouth. It’s really about dealing with the situation they’re facing rather than trying to install perfect dive skills. That’s never going to happen in this situation,” he said.

  • “In a normal situation you would have experienced professionals that might need rescue, not someone who’s a complete novice who’s never been in the water before, let alone who can’t swim.

  • “So the real factor is trying to keep that panic element out of the way because that’s where all the dangers come – as soon as someone panics then all sorts of problems come for the rescuers because a panicked diver can actually be a danger to the rescuer as much as themselves.”

  • Diving teams and medical personnel entered the cave at 10:00 local time (03:00 GMT), rescue mission chief Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters on Sunday. 

  • Thirteen foreign and five Thai navy SEAL divers are taking part in the rescue mission, which could take two to four days. Each boy will be accompanied by two divers on their way out.  

  • It will take at least 11 hours for the first person to be rescued, meaning the first member of the team could come out at 21:00 (14:00 GMT) at the earliest. 

  • Read more about the start of the rescue operation. 

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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