Four more boys rescued from flooded Thailand cave: reports

Thomas Maresca and John Bacon Special to USA TODAY

Published 12:55 p.m. UTC Jul 9, 2018

MAE SAI, Thailand — Four more boys trapped for more than two weeks in a flooded cave here were brought out Monday, according to multiple media reports. Rescuers continued working to save the young soccer team and their coach in the second phase of the operation that also saw four boys extracted Sunday.

Authorities said the four brought out Sunday were in good condition.

Twelve boys, ages 11-17, and their 25-year-old coach hiked more than 2 miles into the labyrinth June 23, prompting a desperate search. They were found a week ago, but the heavy rains that flooded parts of the twisting array of tunnels has made their rescue a hazardous task.

The rescue was put on hold Sunday night to allow rescuers to restock the cave with oxygen tanks. The effort cranked up again Monday morning local time, which was Sunday night in the U.S.

CNN and Reuters were among media outlets reporting that four more boys were rescued, raising the total number to eight. That would leave four boys and their coach still awaiting rescue, although a team of SEALs is staying in the cave with them.

“All conditions are still as good as they were yesterday,” Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters as rescue efforts began Monday. “Today we are ready like before. And we will do it faster because we are afraid of the rain.”

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The team hiked in after a soccer practice before heavy rains flooded parts of the cave, blocking their path out. The boys were found a week ago by a British diving pair who, when told by the boys that all were alive, reacted with a typically British "Brilliant!"

More than 90 rescue workers from around the world have been laboring in the dark, twisting cave, with massive pumps being used to lower water levels. It is monsoon season here, and sporadic heavy rainfalls have added to the difficulties.

Narongsak estimated that the precarious journey out could take 10-12 hours for each boy and that extracting everyone could take days. A SEAL involved in preparations for the rescue passed out and died Friday, a sobering reminder of the mission's dangers.

Most of the boys can't swim, and two divers escorted each boy through the cave. The first boy emerged at 5:40 p.m. local time Sunday, less than eight hours after the rescue operation started. Three more boys came out of the cave over the next two hours.

"We were faster than we expected," the governor said.

Those judged to be in the best condition were extracted first. The kids were placed in ambulances and given medical assessments before being shuttled, some via helicopters, to Chiang Rai Prachanukroh hospital, more than 30 miles away.

"We can have good dreams tonight," the Thai navy SEALs wrote in a post on Facebook.

Narongsak said that there was no time limit on the rescue and that its progress would depend on weather and conditions inside the cave.

“If something changes, we’ll stop,” he said. “But I expect the operation to finish within the next couple of days.

Residents of the nearby town of Mae Sai, directly on the border with Myanmar about 7 miles away from the cave entrance, follow the saga of the boys’ disappearance and rescue efforts intently.

“We are talking about it all the time,” said hotel worker Napattra Chokumpompan, 21.

“I watch the news on my phone, my mom is watching on TV,” said Chokumpompan, who graduated from the same school that six of the boys attend, Mae Si Prasitsart School. “They are all of our students, all of our friends, all of our children."

Bacon reported from McLean, Va. Contributing: The Associated Press

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