Thailand: Four Thai Boys Rescued from Flooded Cave

Four of the twelve boys trapped for two weeks in a flooded Thai cave were brought to the surface on Sunday, thanks to a daring and dangerous mission by divers, Thai officials reported.

“Today we managed to rescue four boys whom we safely transported to Chiang Rai Prachanukrua Hospital,” said the head of the rescue mission, Narongsak Osottanakorn, stating that the operation “is going smoothly.”

Earlier, agencies dpa, Reuters, and France Presse, citing another senior Thai official, reported on six boys being rescued.

Thai officials reported that the first phase of the operation has been completed, and the governor of Chiang Rai province said at a press conference that it would take at least ten hours to prepare for the rescue of the remaining boys and their coach, given that the oxygen level in the cave is quite low and they need to wait for it to rise.

BBC reports that the rescue operation continues on Monday.

The rescued boys, accompanied by rescuers, reached the base camp from where they could continue on foot, said Kongchop Tantravanit, spokesman for the Thai Ministry of Defense.

According to media reports, the boys were greeted by their family members at the hospital. It is still unknown what their health condition is.

The most dangerous part of the route that the boys, accompanied by divers, need to cross is a narrow passage 1.7 kilometers from where they were found. The head of the rescue mission explained that once they pass this ‘black point,’ the children are less than a kilometer away from the part of the cave where rescuers have set up the base camp.

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From there, they still have to cover about two kilometers, but the most dangerous part is behind them.

The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach, who have been trapped in the cave for two weeks, were found by divers on Monday on a ledge about four kilometers from the entrance.

They wanted to explore the cave but became trapped when the water level rose due to rain.