Found alive on 10th day, Thai boys' cave ordeal not over
CHIANG RAI, Thailand (Reuters) - Twelve boys and their soccer coach found alive after ten days trapped deep inside a flooded cave will have to bear their ordeal for longer while rescuers work out how to bring them safely out, the governor of Chiang Rai province said on Tuesday.
Divers struggled through narrow passages and murky waters to discover the boys on an elevated rock about 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) from the mouth of the cave.
A video shot by rescuers in flickering torchlight revealed boys clad in shorts and red and blue shirts sitting or standing on the rock above an expanse of water.
“How many of you are there - 13? Brilliant,” a member of the multinational rescue team, speaking in English, tells the boys. “You have been here 10 days. You are very strong.”
“Thank you,” one of the boys says.
One of the boys asks when they will get out of the cave, to which the rescuer answers: “Not today. You have to dive.”
Two British divers, John Volanthen and Rick Stanton, were first to reach the boys, having had strong experience in cave rescues, according to Bill Whitehouse, the vice chairman of the British Cave Rescue Council (BCRC).
They found the group along with a team of Thai navy SEAL divers.
Rescuers had been focussing on an elevated mound, which cavers have named “Pattaya Beach”, in the cave complex’s third chamber, knowing that it could have provided the boys with a refuge when rains flooded the cave.
“The SEALs reported that they reached Pattaya Beach which was flooded. So they went 400 metres further where we found the 13 who were safe,” Narongsak told the cheering group of reporters.