Rescue workers along the main road leading to Tham Luang Nang Non cave as the first 2 ambulances carrying 2 boys pass by. Photo / Getty Images
Four of the boys trapped in a flooded Thai cave system for two weeks have made it to safety after a perilous journey.
All four are now in hospital in Chiang Rai province, with local officials saying at 9pm Sunday local time (2am Sunday NZ time) the operation would pause for 10 to 20 hours to assess the next steps in this extraordinary mission.
Eight of the schoolboys and their soccer coach remain in the cave.
The condition of the four rescued boys was not immediately clear.
Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osatanakorn told a press conference the operation is going "better than expected".
"Everyone's happy. Today was very smooth," he said.
He said the rescued boys were in "perfect" health, despite earlier reports that one was being "closely monitored", calling the rescue "our masterpiece work".
More than 90 international divers and 40 Thai divers have taken part in the daring rescue.
The first boy to emerge was identified by local media as Mongkol Boonpium, 13, and the second as Prachuck Sutham, 14, but the governor would not confirm who had been rescued.
He said a doctor had determined the order, with the strongest leaving first.
The first two walked out of the cave just as the next two reached a chamber close to the entrance, from where they could complete their escape on foot.
Shortly before 8pm Sunday local time (1am Sunday NMZ time), Thai navy SEALs, who are taking part in the rescue operation, reported on their official Facebook page that four had been rescued.
The entire operation to rescue all 13 could last two to four days, depending on weather and water conditions, said army Major General Chalongchai Chaiyakam.
Just after 9pm local time, the Thai navy SEALs posted on their Facebook page again, saying: "Have sweet dreams everyone. Good night. Hooyah."
Narongsak said earlier in the day that 13 foreign and five Thai divers were taking part in the rescue and that two divers would accompany each boy as they're gradually extracted.
The only way to bring the boys and their coach out of the cave is by navigating dark and tight passageways filled with muddy water and strong currents, as well as oxygen-depleted air.
A former Thai navy SEAL passed out and died making the dive Friday.
Experienced cave rescue experts consider an underwater escape a last resort, especially with people untrained in diving, as the boys are. The path out is considered especially complicated because of twists and turns in narrow flooded passages.
But Narongsak said earlier that mild weather and falling water levels over the last few days had created optimal conditions for an underwater evacuation that won't last if it rains again.
Before announcing that the rescue was underway, authorities ordered the throngs of media that have gathered at the cave from around the world to leave.
The boys and their coach became stranded when they went exploring in the cave after a practice game June 23.
Monsoon flooding cut off their escape and prevented rescuers from finding them for almost 10 days.
More rescues are expected on Monday morning local time for the remaining young players and their coach, still trapped in he 10km-long cave system.
The operation will not resume unless conditions continue to be stable.
The water levels in the cave on Sunday were the lowest they have been throughout the mission, authorities said, and the first few chambers that the group had to pass through — all of which were flooded days ago — were dry.
Oxygen levels, too, have stabilised following fears that the chamber the group was in was filling with carbon dioxide from members of the large rescue operation.
The operation to rescue the boys, ages 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach by having them dive out of the flooded cave began Sunday morning, with expert divers entering the sprawling complex for the complicated and dangerous mission.
Helicopters and several ambulances were seen departing from the cave area just before 8pm, though there was no official announcement of whom they were carrying.
Officials had said earlier that helicopters were on standby to take anyone rescued from Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai province to a hospital.
There was "euphoria" among people near the entrance at the news the first boys had been rescued, reports said.
The first two received treatment at the cave entrance before being taken to hospital, the MailOnline reported.
"Two kids are out. They are currently at the field hospital near the cave," said Tossathep Boonthong, chief of Chiang Rai's health department and part of the rescue team.
"We are giving them a physical examination. They have not been moved to Chiang Rai hospital yet," Tossathep told Reuters.
An extraction team of 18 international divers started their "extremely dangerous" operation at 10am local time after the boys' anxious families were informed.
Each boy was to be accompanied by two divers on the perilous 4km journey through murky waters and narrow tunnels.
The trapped boys were to be divided into four groups. The first group would have four people, with the second, third and fourth containing three people. The coach will be in the final group, according to Thai media.
The boys are trapped 800 metres below ground.
Bursts of heavy monsoon rain soaked the Tham Luang Cave area in northern Chiang Rai province throughout today and storms were expected in the coming weeks, increasing the risks in what has been called a "war with water and time" to save the team.
The youngsters will be led out of the tunnels one by one.
A source at Chiang Rai Prachanukroh hospital, 57km from the cave, had earlier said five emergency response doctors were awaiting the party and a further 30 doctors were on stand-by, adding that everyone was feeling tense.
The most critical will be airlifted by helicopters while the less fragile will be transported by ambulance.
All of the boys have been told about the operation, which is being watched eagerly around the world, and they are ready to come out, the governor said early on Sunday.
"They are very strong and determined to come out and be reunited with their families."
The evacuation took place on the 16th day of the operation. The mission got under way as the monsoon storm clouds finally burst open, with rain showers drenching the mountainous countryside.
"This is the best day for the operation," the Governor said.
"The boys were given a medical examination yesterday by a specialist doctor who confirmed that they were well enough to be evacuated.
"If we did not carry out the mission today we might not have been able to get them out.
"I appeal to everyone around the world who has been following the tragic case for your support for the boys and the rescuers."
The rescue mission will continue until all of the stranded boys and their coach are safe, he said.
The anguished families of the missing boys have revealed their relief that the rescue mission to free them from the flooded cave has begun.
Relatives of Pornchai Khamluang, Mongkol Boonpiam and Peerapat Sompiangjal have told how they can't wait to see the missing youngsters – even if it is in a hosopital bed.
"All of the family hopes that the boys will come out of the cave as quickly as possible," Pornchai's aunt, Jarm Ounsaeng, told MailOnline.
"Even if the boys have to be taken to hospital, at least we will be able to visit them."
Jarm spoke as other relatives of the stranded youngsters have revealed how their fraught parents and siblings have been struggling to cope with their disappearance.
Details of the boys' lives – and how precious they are to their families – emerged as the world waits for news of their escape.
The parents of Nattawut Thakamsong – who suffers from asthma and is known as 'TLE'- have already suffered the heartache of losing a child when their first-born, a girl, died of cancer when she was just 10 months old.
Another boy Mongkol Boonpiam is his mother's only companion, after she separated from his father.
His aunt, Eytan Hongwattana, 48, told MailOnline: "Mongkol lives with his mother because his parents have split up.
"During the first days of his disappearance my sister, Namhom Boonpiam, was very unwell. She kept fainting, several times a day. She would not eat or even drink.
"I live 100km away but I came to look after my sister when she heard that Mongkol was missing.
"She has up been up at the cave everyday. She only comes home for a few minutes to take a shower and have something to eat.
"After the boys were found she has been a bit better. And reading his letter helped too."
Pornchai's aunt said his mother Kiang Khamlue and father In Khamluang have been frantic with worry since he disappeared.
Jarm told MailOnline: "The whole family are very worried about Pornchai.
"It was a huge relief when they were finally found.
"His mother and his little sister Mother Pingsorn Thaiyai, went up to the mountain to wait for him.
"The little girl refused to go to school because she wanted to hug her brother when he came out.
"We thought he would be out within five days at the most. But now it has been more than two weeks.
"After she got the letter from Pornchai my sister [mother] felt a lot better."
Nattawut Thakamsong's teacher Thongyard Kejorn, who is close to the family, told MailOnline: "Before Tie [Nattawut Thakamsong] the family had a little girl who died of cancer.
"So Tie is their only child and they are devoted to him.
"Even though he is 14, the father takes him to school and the mother picks him up – always.
"They have been outside the cave for the past two weeks. They only return home for clean clothes.
"When I saw them, they just burst into tears."
Additional reporting: AP, Washington Post, Daily Mail
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