In the first phase of the rescue operation, four members of a Thai soccer team have been brought out from a flooded cave where they have been for two weeks. Rescue teams are preparing for the next phase of the mission.
Image: Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun
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The first members of a youth soccer team trapped with their coach in a flooded cave in northern Thailand have been rescued and are on their way to hospital, local officials said on Sunday.
Four out of the 12 boys made it out of the Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex, Narongsak Osottanakorn, the governor of Chiang Rai province and the head of the rescue mission, told reporters in the evening. Other Thai officials initially told reporters that six boys had been rescued.
The rescue mission was due to resume on Monday and would be conducted by the same diving team that retrieved the first four boys, Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda said Monday.
Anupong said divers needed to place more air canisters along the underwater route to where the boys and their coach are located — a process that can take several hours.
Mission not over yet
DW's correspondent in northern Thailand, Florian Nusch, said rescuers had not expressed concerns about rising water levels in the cave: "I think it is safe to assume that up to this point, authorities are still quite positive about this whole rescue mission so far."
"It is raining," he said. "But it is not the really tropical rainstorm yet."
"We don't know exactly when they will start the second phase of the operation," Nusch said. New oxygen tanks have to be installed and more oxygen has to be pumped into the caves during the 10 to 20 hours before the next rescue operation begins.
"This daunting mission is far from over," he told DW TV. "So we are expecting at least the next two to three days before hopefully everyone will be extracted safely."
What we know so far:
Four boys were rescued and taken to hospital in the first phase of the operation to free the trapped soccer team.
The head of the rescue operation said the healthiest boys were the first to be taken out.
The boys wore full face masks to dive in as a team of 13 foreign and Thai diving experts guided the boys out of the flooded cave complex.
More oxygen supplies will need to be prepared as the first day of evacuations heavily depleted the rescuers' supplies.
Several ambulances were seen leaving the cave site while helicopters were also reportedly used to bring the boys to a nearby hospital.
The boy who didn’t go
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Complicated rescue: Local government officials said 13 foreign divers and five members of Thailand's navy SEAL unit are taking part in the long and dangerous operation to free the 12 young soccer players and their 25-year-old coach. The rescuers and boys will have to contend with navigating tight passageways filled with muddy water and strong currents, as well as with oxygen-depleted air. A former Thai navy SEAL died making the dive on Friday.
Trapped for two weeks: A massive rescue operation was launched after the boys, aged 11-16, and their coach went missing on June 23. The team and coach were exploring the cave after a practice game when heavy rainfall and flooding cut off their escape route out of the cave and prevented rescuers from finding them for nine days.
What happens next: The head of rescue operations said the next phase of evacuations will resume in 10 to 20 hours. The entire rescue operation, which started on Sunday morning, is expected to take two to three days to complete, as each round trip from the rescue camp in the cave to the site where the boys and their coach are located takes 11 hours. Rescuers are racing against time to evacuate the team and their coach as heavy downpours are expected to hit the area in the next few days.
Why it was so difficult to extricate Thai cave boys
After a daring rescue mission, Thai divers and international volunteers rescued 12 young soccer players and their coach from a flooded cave. The group was stranded in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex for 18 days.
Image: picture-alliance/Newscom
Happy ending after harrowing ordeal
After deliberating over how best to rescue the boys and their coach - considering even whether to teach them how to dive, or wait for the monsoon waters to recede months later - rescue workers finally settled on pumping out as much water as possible, sedating those trapped and strapping them to a diver who shepherded them to safety.
Image: Reuters/Thai Navy Seals
Found alive after nine days
Rescue divers initially found the 12 young soccer players and their coach alive on July 3 after they went missing in a Thai cave 10 days earlier. Fighting against time, rain and low oxygen levels, rescuers managed to free the first four boys successfully on July 8. The rescuers faced a complicated and dangerous diving mission to free the rest of the team and their coach.
Image: picture-alliance/Newscom
Glimpse of joy
Families of the teenage soccer players expressed their joy over the discovery of the boys nine days after they went missing. Outside the cave, the mother of one of the boys said she was "glad" for a glimpse of her son. "He's thinner," she said, as she ran her finger over the image of her son on a television screen.
Image: Thai Navy Seal via AP
Massive rescue efforts
Thai rescuers were assisted by an international team comprising experts from China, Australia, the USA and Britain. A video from the Thai Navy SEAL Facebook page showed the group several kilometers inside the 10-kilometer (6-mile) cave network on a small wedge of dry ground. The boys moved 400 meters further in as the ledge had become covered by water.
Trapped by flooding
The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach entered the cave to celebrate one of the player's birthday. They became trapped in the cave, a local tourist spot where similar incidents have taken place in the past, when sudden rainfall flooded its entry on June 23. It was later reported that some of the boys could not swim, further complicating the rescue.
Image: picture-alliance/Xinhua
A difficult mission
The rescue mission proved difficult for divers whose efforts were continually hampered by rising water that filled sections of the cave, often forcing them to stop. Getting trained divers into the cave was easier than getting untrained kids out.
Image: Reuters/S. Zeya Tun
Boys' safety paramount
The entire nation was glued to the media coverage of the rescue mission, and Thai authorities insisted they will not compromise on the safety of the trapped group. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha (above, at right) thanked international experts who helped find the boys.
Image: picture alliance/Xinhua News Agency
First boys rescued
The first four boys were rescued by a team of 13 foreign diving experts and Thai Navy SEALS, who helped them navigate the flooded cave tunnels. The head of the rescue operation said they were the healthiest in the group. The rest of the boys and their coach would be rescued from the cave over the next two days.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/L. Suwanrumpha
Safe and sound
Doctors who treated the boys after their rescue reported that while they had lost weight, the otherwise appeared to be in good health. The dozens of divers and hundreds of other rescue workers have been celebrated around the world as heroes, especially 38-year-old former Thai Navy SEAL Saman Kunan, who died after bringing the group supplies of air on July 5.
Image: picture-alliance/AP/Thailand Government Spokesman Bureau
