MAE SAI, Thailand, July 10, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Rescuers will guide the
remaining five members of a youth football squad out from inside a flooded
Thai cave on Tuesday, the chief of the painstaking operation to free them
told reporters.
Four boys and their 25-year-old football coach “will be extracted today
(Tuesday)”, rescue chief Narongsak Osottanakorn said.
A doctor and three Thai Navy SEALs, who have stayed with the group since
shortly after they were discovered huddled on a muddy ledge deep inside the
Tham Luang cave complex, will also come out, Narongsak added.
So far eight boys aged between 12 and 16 have been led out of the cave
system by a team of expert divers over two days.
Monday’s rescue mission, which saw four boys extracted before dusk and
whisked to Chiang Rai hospital, took around nine hours.
“Today (Tuesday) we hope to be faster,” Narongsak added, of the complex and
dangerous operation that involves diving through narrow, flooded chambers.
A health official earlier described the mental and physical condition of
the eight rescued so far as “good”, adding they will be kept in hospital for
around a week.