A Thai boy smiles in a new video as Thai Navy SEAL medic help injured children inside the cave. Photo / AP
A Thai boy smiles in a new video as Thai Navy SEAL medic help injured children inside the cave. Photo / AP
Rescue attempts to save 12 boys and their football coach from a flooded cave in northern Thailand could begin as early as tomorrow, The Australian newspaper reports.
The Australian says it has been told "currents inside the cave that had made diving difficult for experts had eased almost to a standstill after sustained pumping efforts and with monsoonal rains expected to resume Friday — conditions for the rescue were as good as they were likely to get".
Chiang Rai Governor Narongsak Osoththanakorn said water levels were receding.
"Everything is going to plan. We are trying to take as much water out as possible," he told a press conference.
"The water level is reducing but there is still some coming in. If we can keep the water out of the cave at this pace the SEALs will be able to do their job better. It's quite difficult because sand and stones are being washed down with the water.
"We have to wait to confirm with the SEALs whether the water is low enough for the students to dive.
"The situation we most prefer is that the cave is dry. That's the perfect situation but we can't wait for that."
But The Australian was later told that if today's conditions hold out, the SEALs intended to begin trying to bring out the boys and their 25-year-old coach tomorrow.
Narongsak Osatanakorn says the boys and their coach may not all be extracted at the same time depending on their health.
"All 13 may not come out at the same time. If the condition is right and if that person is ready 100 percent, he can come out."
He said authorities will evaluate their readiness each day and if there is any risk the operation will not proceed.
He said the team is currently recuperating.
Authorities are still determining the best way to get the team out of the cave, options that include diving.
Heavy rain forecast for northern Thailand could spell disaster for the Thai schoolboys.
But despite the imminent danger, the children have appeared in a new video this morning, laughing as they greet the camera to say they are in good health.
The footage, published by the Thai Navy Seal Facebook page, runs by 11 of the 13 members of the team as each makes a traditional Thai greeting gesture to the camera before introducing himself by nickname and saying "I'm in good health".
The 12 schoolboys, in baggy football kits, and their coach were found after nine days underground yesterday to jubilant celebrations, but the rescue operation to guide them through the cave's 2km system could take up to four months.
Thai authorities are working to with navy SEALs to run a fibre optic internet line into a flooded cave in northern Thailand where the young players and their coach are trapped.
Communication technician Phoowanart Keawdum said Wednesday that once the cable is installed, phone calls to the cave will be possible.
Authorities tried to do the same Tuesday, but the equipment was damaged by the water.
The children appeared in a new video this morning, laughing as they greeted the camera to say they are in good health. Photo / AP
In the latest videos released by the Thai navy, the boys and coach say they're fine. The group entered the cave in northern Thailand on June 23 before flooding cut off the main entrance.
The two latest videos posted to a navy Facebook page late Wednesday morning show a navy SEAL treating minor cuts on the feet and legs of the boys with antibiotic ointment.
Several of the boys are seen smiling as they interact with the navy SEAL, who cracks jokes.
Other boys are seen sleeping under foil warming blankets.
A previous video released early Wednesday showed the boys saying they were healthy.
The Thai official overseeing the rescue operation of a soccer team trapped in a flooded cave says the boys have been practicing wearing diving masks and breathing.
Thai soldiers makes their way down at the entrance to the cave complex. Photo / AP
Officials have said that teaching the 12 boys and their coach to dive may be the only way to get them out of the cave, but other options are being explored.
Chiang Rai provincial Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said Wednesday that while the team has been practicing with masks, he doesn't believe they have attempted any practice dives.
He said it is unknown when an extraction could be attempted, but it is unlikely to be Wednesday.
He said any extraction has to be "100 percent safe".
The Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda said evacuating the boys "must speed up" as soon as possible before more rain falls and exacerbates the flooding.
This week's grim weather forecast could force authorities to take the children — who cannot swim — out through a narrow, underwater passage in the cave.
"If something happens midway, it could be life-threatening." Paojinda said.
"Diving is not easy. For people who have never done it, it will be difficult, unlike diving in a swimming pool, because the cave's features have small channels."
A couple of other options are on the table if that doesn't work. Authorities are considering digging the boys out of the cave, but if this goes wrong it could cause the cavern where the team has taken refuge to cave in.
Rescuers could also drain the caves enough to allow the boys to wade or float out with life vests.
The final option is to leave them in there for three or four months until the rains subside.
The group of 13, who disappeared when flooding trapped them in the cave they were exploring on June 23 after a soccer game, were found by rescue divers late Monday night. The desperate search effort drew international help and has riveted Thailand.
Detective Superintendent Thomas Hester said the team of six divers from the Australian Federal Police faced "incredibly challenging" conditions.
Rescuers have asked for 15 small and extra small full-face masks, leading to speculation that divers were preparing a rescue mission through the 750m flooded stretch of the Tham Luang Nang Non cave.
Media have been told it was too dangerous to use conventional breathing apparatus as it could easily be knocked out during the dive.
The boys, aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach were described as healthy and being looked after by seven members of the Thai navy Seals, including medics, who were staying with them inside the cave. They were mostly in stable condition and have received high-protein drinks.
It has been revealed that the boys visited the cave to attempt a local initiation rite in which they had to scrawl their names on a wall at the end of the tunnel.
Rescuers carrying water pipes make their way up at the entrance to a cave complex where 12 boys and their soccer coach were trapped inside. Photo / AP
Although efforts to pump out floodwaters are continuing, it's clear that some areas of the sprawling cavern cannot be drained, said Paojinda, a member of Thailand's ruling military junta.
To get them out before the bad weather forecast this week, they might need to use diving gear while being guided by professional divers, he said.
Anupong said the boys would be brought out via the same complicated route through which their rescuers entered, and he conceded that if something went awry, it could be disastrous.
Yesterday, a video released by the Thai navy showed the boys in their soccer uniforms sitting in a dry area inside the Tham Luang Nang Non cave above the water as a light held by a rescuer was shone on their faces.
Cave rescue experts have said it could be safer to simply supply them where they are for now, rather than trying to have the boys dive out. That could take months, however, given that Thailand's rainy season typically lasts through October.
Seal commander Rear Admiral Arpakorn Yookongkaew said there was no rush to bring them out, since they're safe where they are.
A doctor and a nurse were with them in the cave.
"We have given the boys food, starting from easily digested and high-powered food with enough minerals," Arpakorn told a news conference.
Having them dive out of the cave was one of several options being considered, "but if we are using this plan, we have to be certain that it will work and have to have a drill to make sure that it's 100 per cent safe," he said.
Chiang Rai provincial Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn said the health of the boys and coach were checked using a field assessment in which red is critical condition, yellow is serious and green is stable.
"We found that most of the boys are in green condition," he said. "Maybe some of the boys have injuries or light injuries and would be categorised as yellow condition. But no one is in red condition."
Relatives keeping vigil at the mouth of the cave since the ordeal began rejoiced at the news that their boys and their coach had been found.
"I want to give him a hug. I miss him very much," said Tham Chanthawong, an aunt of the coach. "In these 10 days, how many million seconds have there been? I've missed him every second."
Rescue divers had spent much of Monday making preparations for a final push to locate them, efforts that had been hampered by flooding that made it difficult to move through the tight passageways of muddy water.
Rick Stanton and John Volanthen, two expert cave divers from Britain, found the group about 300-400m past a section of the cave on higher ground that was believed to be where they might have taken shelter.
In the five-minute navy video, the boys were seen wearing their soccer uniforms and were calm, curious and polite.
They also were keen to get food. After an initial exchange in which a rescuer determines that all 13 are present, one of the boys asked what day it was, and a rescuer replied: "Monday. Monday. You have been here — 10 days."
The rescuer told them "you are very strong". The traditional reserve of Thai children towards adults broke slightly after a while, and one boy told another in Thai, "Tell them we are hungry".
"We haven't eaten," a boy said in Thai, then in English: "We have to eat, eat, eat!" A rescuer assured them that "navy Seals will come tomorrow, with food and doctors and everything". At the end of the video, a boy asked in English, "Where do you come from?"
The rescue diver replied, "England, UK". Besides the protein drink, Narongsak said they were given painkillers and antibiotics, which doctors had advised as a precaution.
He said officials had met and agreed on the need to "ensure 100 per cent safety for the boys when we bring them out".
"We worked so hard to find them and we will not lose them," he said.
Cave diver Ben Reymenants, part of the team assisting the rescue effort, told NBC's Today show that he was "very surprised obviously that they are all alive and actually mentally also healthy."
Although they appeared responsive, "they are very weak and very skinny", he added. Reymenants said the easiest option would be to "keep pumping the water out of the cave. They need another 3 or 4 feet so they can literally float them out with life jackets."
"But time is not on their side," he noted, because of the heavy rain forecast. He added that two Thai navy doctors have volunteered to stay with them for months, if needed.
The British Cave Rescue Council, which has members taking part in the operation, said that "although water levels have dropped, the diving conditions remain difficult and any attempt to dive the boys and their coach out will not be taken lightly because there are significant technical challenges and risks to consider".
Joining the British are other experts from around the world and teams from the US, Australia, China and elsewhere.
Authorities said efforts would continue outside the cave, where teams have been scouring the mountainside for other entrances to the caverns. Several fissures have been found and teams have explored some, although so far, none lead to the trapped boys.
