12 football players aged 11-16 and their 25-year-old coach went on Saturday, June 23, to the cave Tham Luang Nang Non in the Chiang Rai province in the north of Thailand, where they were cut off from the world by heavy rains. The complex of caves stretches there for several kilometers, the passages are narrow, and in the rainy season they are often flooded with water.
The group was found on Monday evening in the depths of the cave by British divers.
Although, according to the authorities, everyone is safe, the question of getting them out of the cave, which is still partly flooded with water, remained unresolved. The exhausted boys and the trainer were given high-calorie food and medicine on Tuesday, and the rescuers were preparing for a scenario in which they will have to spend up to several months inside. The second scenario wast to teach them diving, evnethough some of the boys can not even swim. It can take months to learn and teach them to dive - said the Thai army on Tuesday. However, the rescue action has started today in the morning.
On Thursday evening Samarn Poonan, a former member of the elite Navy unit of Thailand, died after entering the cave where oxygen tanks were about to be placed along the potential route of departure. It proves how hard rescue action will be, if even Navy member had problems with the way out.
Authorities of Chiang Rai province said it will take three to four days depending on weather conditions. It is the fastest possible date for the extraction of teenage players from Tham Luang Nang Non.
13 foreign and 5 Thai scuba divers and 5 commandos take part in the operation.
- The first evacuated group consists of four people - said Wojciech Bojanowski from TVN24
The chances of the success of the rescue action are reduced by the worsening weather conditions and the oxygen level falling in the cave.
Today is going to rain much harder, because of this the action begins - and should end - until late evening. (...) There are already 13 ambulances on the place, additional gas cylinders. Each boy will be escorted by two to three divers. The problem is that the oxygen level in the cave is lowered- he pointed out.
- Diver, Maciej Cepin, pointed out that the boys did not have to learn to dive. - It was enough for them to learn how to breathe through the breathing apparatus and tell them how the action will look like - he said. - Rescue operations in caves are a huge effort, also for rescuers. These actions usually take a very long time - he added.
- The thirteen-person group is more than ready to leave the cave. This is the peak of our readiness - told journalists Narongsak Osottanakorn, the head of the cave rescue action and the provincial governor at the same time.
Until now, the rescue operation was limited to giving the exhausted boys and the trainer high-calorie food and medicine.
The imprisonment of teenagers in the cave has moved the whole world. The world's best experts have engaged in the matter, trying to develop a way to get the group out of the cave.
The whole operation will take several days.
The teacher in the letter apologized to children's parents. He is very well seen among both parents of children and the local community.
Several boys also gave letters to their parent. "Do not worry, Mom and Dad, it's been two weeks since I'm gone, but I'll be back to help you in the store," wrote Bew, whose parents run a small grocery store.
The struggle against time continues. The first evacuated group consists of four people.
They are prepared.
Drama in Thailand lives almost the whole world. "Boys, you can do it!"
Many countries offer support.
The action is extremely complicated
People all over the world are praying for a successful action finale.
The parents of the imprisoned boys were informed about the dangers that threatenes to ther children. They agreed to the action - we read on Twitter.
How the action will look like.
Four boys are on their way. When we can see them on the surface? The rescuers talk about six and even 10 hours.
Each evacuee child will be accompanied by two divers, including one from abroad and one from Thailand. The operation began on Sunday at 10 local time; According to Chalongchaia, it will take at least 11 hours to free the first boy from the cave.
So much time was needed by divers to overcome the complicated route, leading partly through the flooded part of the cave - the road to the people imprisoned in the cave took them six hours, and return five hours, thanks to flowing with the current.
Reuters: the first two boys were saved.
Thailand army informed that first boy was rescued at 17.37 local time, and second one at 17.50
There are still 10 teenagers and a coach in the cave. Earlier, one of the leaders of the rescue operation reported that the imprisoned in the caves - 12 boys and their trainer - will be evacuated individually and that the whole action will take 2-3 days.
The rescued boys were taken to a nearby field hospital, which was set specifically for the needs of the action. Saved teenagers are transported to the clinic in a nearby city.
- This is one of the most complicated cave rescue operations - says Paweł Szot on TVP INFO. - Each boy is accompanied by two divers, one moves backwards - so that all the time he can have eye contact with the boy. The second one follows him, he protects the bottle with the air so that the boy does not have to carry it himself. According to specialists who know this cave, in some places the corridors are only half a meter wide.
Conflicting information appears about how many teenagers are already saved from the cave. Some sources indicate that four more boys appeared on the surface, other media write about two rescued.
However, local authorities say that there are already six boys on the surface. Two of those who were saved earlier and four who managed to recover before the moment.
Rescuers reach the imprisoned boys much faster than it was expected. They are also able to bring them out of the cave much faster. They managed to save first two teenagers after 8 hours.
At this point, it is stated that divers need 4 hours to reach the fragment of the cave in which young players are staying. The return takes about 3 hours - the difference is due to the fact that the divers are coming back with the flow.
The action - says Paweł Szot - began at the moment that the boys would go out to the surface after dark. If, after two weeks under the surface, they would suddenly went out into the full sun, they could lose their sight. For the rescuers themselves it does not matter at what time of the day they carry out the action, because sunlight does not reach the cave.
According to Sky News, four boys who were brought to the surface are already in the hospital. They were transported there from the field clinic, which was established near the entrance to the cave.
A break in the rescue operation has been announced. Boss informed that rescuers need at least 10, and maybe even 20 hours to prepare the next part of the activities.
The action will start again at the earliest at 8:00 am local time. It is possible that its resumption will shift even to tomorrow afternoon.
8 teenagers and their trainer still remain in the cave.
The rescue operation in the cave is continued.
According to the plan, the next group will consist of three boys.
The head of the Thai Ministry of Interior: the same divers returned to the cave, who took part in yesterday's action - they are best orientated in the conditions prevailing there.
CNN states that the person whoa was pulled out of the cave is the fifth surviving boy.
An ambulance with a rescued boy went to the hospital.
According to Reuters: the sixth and seventh boy are on the surface. Two boys were taken out of the cave on a stretcher.
Reuters reports that another person was recovered from the cave. There are still five people inside.
He is the eighth freed person. According to local media, he was carried out on a stretcher. This may mean that the condition of the boys and the trainer has worsened in the last hours and for this reason the rescue action has been accelerated. Let me remind you that initially it was assumed that only three people will be recovered to the surface today.
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