The Latest on the search for 12 boys and their soccer coach in a cave in northern Thailand (all times local):
9:25 a.m.
Thai authorities say they are committed to “100 percent safety” when they consider how to extract a youth soccer team from the partially flooded cave where they were found on the 10th day of a desperate search.
Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said Tuesday morning that a navy SEAL team will make the final call on the evacuation method. He said one method being considered is for the group to be coached to swim using special breathing masks.
He said other efforts will continue, such as draining water from the cave and exploring the mountainside for shafts and other entrances to the caverns below.
Experts have said the safest option could be to supply the 12 boys and their coach where they are and wait for the water levels to drop.
———
8:30 a.m.
A Thai provincial governor says the 13 people who had been missing for more than a week have all had an “informal” medical evaluation inside the cave and most are in stable condition and none are in critical condition.
Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said Tuesday morning that they used a field assessment in which red is critical condition, yellow is serious condition and green is stable condition.
He said: “We found that most of the boys are in green condition. Maybe some of the boys have injuries or light injuries and would be categorized as yellow condition. But no one is in red condition.”
The 12 boys and their soccer coach were found late Monday still in the cave and it is not known when they will be able to leave due to flooding and other factors.
———
11:50 p.m.
A leading American cave rescue expert says many challenges are ahead for rescue divers in Thailand who located the 12 boys and their soccer coach who had been missing in a cave for more than a week.
Anmar Mirza, the U.S. National Cave Rescue Commission coordinator, says the primary decision is now one of whether to try to evacuate them or to supply them in place.
He says “supplying them on site may face challenges depending on how difficult the dives are. Trying to take non-divers through a cave is one of the most dangerous situations possible, even if the dives are relatively easy.”
He says that “if the dives are difficult then supply will be difficult, but the risk of trying to dive them out is also exponentially greater.”
Rescuers located the boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach alive deep inside the partially flooded cave in northern Thailand late Monday. They disappeared when flooding trapped them after entering the cave on June 23.
———
11:40 p.m.
Thailand’s prime minister has thanked international experts and rescuers who helped find the 12 boys and their soccer coach who had been missing in a cave for more than a week.
The Prime Minister’s Office says Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha “wishes to thank the tremendous efforts of all international units that have come to assist the Thai authorities in rescuing the youth football team that was stuck in the caves in Chiang Rai. The Royal Thai Government and the Thai people are grateful for this support and cooperation, and we all wish the team a safe and speedy recovery.”
Rescuers located the boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach alive deep inside the partially flooded cave in northern Thailand late Monday. They disappeared when flooding trapped them after entering the cave on June 23.
———
11 p.m.
A Thai provincial governor says all 12 boys and their coach have been found alive in the cave where they went missing over a week ago in northern Thailand.
Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said late Monday that the 13 were being rescued.
He said, “We found them safe. But the operation isn’t over.”
The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach went missing when flooding trapped them after entering the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai province on June 23.
