Thailand Cave Rescue: Trapped football team given crash swimming course
Divers, medics, counsellors and Thai navy SEALS were with the 12 schoolboys and their 25-year-old coach, providing medicines and food while experts assessed conditions for getting them out safely, a task the government said would not be easy. Thailand’s deputy prime minister Prawit Wongsuwan said: “The water is very strong and space is narrow. Extracting the children takes a lot of people. "Now we are teaching the children to swim and dive.” He added if water levels fell and the flow weakened, they would be taken out quickly. By late last night about 120 million litres of water had been pumped out.
REUTERS / EPA Thailand cave rescue: The trapped boys are being taught how to swim and dive
Experts say divers have required three hours to reach the boys, located about 4 km (2.5 miles) from the mouth of the cave. A group of about 30 divers in wetsuits was seen preparing kit and heading for the caves today, accompanied by military personnel and a foreign cave expert. A video released by the SEALS showed two rescuers seated on an elevated part of the cave beside boys wrapped in emergency foil blankets who appeared to be in good spirits, occasionally laughing. A torch is shone on each boy, who says hello and introduces himself with head bowed and palms pressed together in a traditional "wai" greeting. A young player wears what appears to be the red jersey of the England soccer team in Tuesday's World Cup second-round victory over Colombia. Another wears the blue shirt of English team Chelsea.
EPA Thailand cave rescue: The trapped boys will have to swim to safety
The group was discovered by the SEALS and two British cave diving experts on Monday, having been incommunicado since June 23, when a post-practice outing went awry, prompting the high-profile search and rescue effort. News that the team had survived sparked relief, celebrations and an outpouring of praise in a country transfixed by the drama and its almost blanket media coverage. Chiang Rai Governor Narongsak Osottanakorn said the authorities were keen to get the boys out and suggested it might have to happen in phases, but only when safe. "All 13 don't have to come out at the same time," he told reporters. "Who is ready first can go first." Officials have dismissed as speculation reports that the boys could be trapped for up to four months, although supplies have been prepared for that period of time.