Race To Rescue Last Trapped Boys Intensifies After Night Of Heavy Rain

The divers who rescued four young boys belonging to the football team trapped in caves in Thailand yesterday face a race against time to free the remaining team members. Four boys were brought to the surface on Sunday, more than two weeks after the group was trapped underground. The Thai official leading the rescue operation, which has involved British divers, said it has gone ‘better than expected’ and that the healthiest boys have been taken out first.

Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda said officials were meeting this morning about the next stage of the operation and how to extract the remaining eight boys and their coach from the cave in Chiang Rai. Anupong said divers need to place more air canisters along the underwater route to where the boys and their coach have been trapped since June 23 and that can take several hours. The boys rescued yesterday were pictured late last night and are said to be ‘strong’ but will need further medical checks. Rescuers are said to have only a 10-hour window to bring the remaining people out of the flooded caves after a night in which heavy monsoon rains battered the mountainous region for several hours. The rescue involves a complicated and dangerous plan to help the boys – many of whom have never learned to swim – dive out of the water-logged tunnel system in murky dark water.

Thailand’s Meteorological Department said there was a 60 percent chance of rain again today with thunderstorms forecast throughout the week. It was not immediately known how rainfall had impacted water levels inside the caves where an international rescue effort is being staged. On Sunday, chief of operations governor Narongsak Osatanakorn said 13 foreign and five Thai divers are taking part in the operation. The British Cave Rescue Council (BCRC) confirmed that seven divers from the UK with ‘expertise in cave diving’ are assisting. Two elite British divers, Rick Stanton and John Volanthen, were the first rescuers to reach the group on Monday night and are believed to be part of the team.