The Thai Navy SEALs released new video of the boys and their soccer coach smiling and covered with space blankets inside a cave in Thailand a day after they were found by rescuers. In the video, a Navy SEAL tells the boys to introduce themselves to their fans, CNN's Anna Coren reported. The boys say "hello" in Thai, then they, along with their coach, introduce themselves by their nicknames. The Navy SEAL also tells the soccer team that the world is watching them. "And it is so true. Not just Thailand, but it is the world," Coren noted. "There is a huge contingent of people here from across the globe that are following every single development, wanting these boys to get out safely." The boys, she said, are ready to get out of the cave. "I think what is pertinent about this video is that they say, 'I am healthy. We are healthy,'" Coren said.<doc-sep>An ambulance leaves the Tham Luang cave area after divers evacuated some of the 12 boys and their coach trapped at the cave in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province on July 8, 2018. - Elite divers on July 8 began the extremely dangerous operation to extract 12 boys and their football coach who have been trapped in a flooded cave complex in northern Thailand for more than two weeks, as looming monsoon rains threatened the rescue effort. (Photo by LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA / AFP) / (Photo credit should read LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA/AFP/Getty Images) 12 boys and their coach all out of Thai cave Some of the boys who were trapped in a cave in Northern Thailand outside a hospital in Chiang Rai after being discharged. CHIANG RAI, THAILAND - JULY 18: Twelve boys and their coach from the "Wild Boars" soccer team arrive for a press conference for the first time since they were rescued from a cave in northern Thailand last week, on July 18, 2018 in Chiang Rai, Thailand. The 12 boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach were discharged early from Chiang Rai Prachanukroh hospital after a speedy recovery and thanked those involved in their rescue. (Photo by Linh Pham/Getty Images) (CNN) — The initial relief that greeted the dramatic discovery of the trapped Thai soccer team has given way to questions over why the boys are still inside the flooded cave network and not on their way to the surface and their waiting families. Part of the concern about attempting to bring the boys out of the cramped, pitch-black chamber where they have spent the better part of nine days is that they are around two kilometers (1.2 miles) inside the cave, and nearly a kilometer below the surface, according to rescuers. The boys, who were found alive by British divers in the early hours of Monday morning, are now being tended to by seven Thai Navy Seals, including a doctor and nurse, Thai Navy Seal Chief Rear Adm. Aphakorn Yoo-kongkaew told reporters at a news conference late Tuesday. “Now we have given food to the boys, starting with food that is easy to digest and provides high energy,” he said. “We have taken care of those boys following the doctor’s recommendation. So do not worry, we will take care of them with our best. We will bring all of them with safety. We are now planning how to do so.” The children were being given access to telephone lines to be able to reach their families, but the focus, said Yoo-kongkaew, was on building their strength so they can attempt the journey out. “We don’t have to rush. We are trying to take care of them and make them strong. Then the boys will come out to see you guys,” he said. However, options for the rescuers working in and around the Tham Luang Nang Non cave system in northern Thailand are limited. The area in which the group remains stranded is accessible only via a narrow, flooded channel, and attempts to pump water from the cave, or find a natural opening in the roof of the chamber, have so far been unsuccessful. How long can they wait? Capt. Akanand Surawan, a commander with the Royal Thai Navy, said authorities would now supply the group with four months’ worth of food and begin teaching the boys how to scuba dive. Surawan’s reference to four months has been interpreted as a potential sign that authorities are considering waiting until after the rainy season ends in October to begin the rescue operation. But with heavy rain expected to continue in the coming days, rising water levels could force rescuers to act sooner rather than later. “We believe that there is only a short break in the monsoon and all feasible options for the rescue of the boys are being considered,” British Cave Rescue Council Vice Chairman Bill Whitehouse said in a statement. Linh Pham/Getty Images Rescue workers attend to a pump being used to extract water from the cave network. “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,” said Whitehouse. Diving is considered among the least preferable escape methods, with experts cautioning that any attempt to traverse the narrow passageways will be fraught with difficulties and potential complications, especially if the children can’t swim. Linh Pham/Getty Images AsiaPac/Getty Images Scuba tanks are delivered to the site to aid rescue efforts. “Worst-case scenario is they have to dive them out,” Pat Moret, a rescue consultant, told CNN on Monday. “It won’t be anything like diving that most people recognize. It will be diving in what is effectively muddy water, possibly fast-flowing, with no sense of direction,” Moret said. “You can’t tell what’s up, down, sideways.” The emotional toil of any rescue attempt would also need to be considered, said Paul Auerbach, professor of emergency medicine at Stanford University. “This is going to be a complicated rescue. It’s manageable, but they have to be sure that these kids are physically capable of it and emotionally capable of it as well,” said Auerbach. “They’ll be assessed for hydration status, adequate fuel supply, adequate food so that their glucose level is adequate, and then no doubt they’ll do practice dives,” he added. LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA/AFP/AFP/Getty Images Families have been holding vigils outside the entrance of the cave since the boys went missing. Battling the rains The boys, who are between 11 and 16 and are members of the Wild Boars soccer team, had been exploring the cave network with their soccer coach on June 23, when heavy seasonal rains flooded the cave’s entrance, forcing the group further and further into the labyrinth of tunnels in search of high ground. Their sudden disappearance sparked a desperate nine-day race against time as hundreds of volunteers and specialist international search teams battled against the heavy rains to locate the missing group. On Monday, Narongsak Osottanakorn, governor of Chiang Rai, the region where the caves are located, told reporters that the mission is “not done yet” and medical experts need to enter the cave to assess the boys before any further action is taken. The Royal Thai Navy’s Surawan said additional divers will accompany the doctor and nurse. Rescuers will also pump air into the cave to improve conditions. Rescue teams have been trying to drain the underground tunnels for several days, and at one point were removing an estimated 1.6 million liters of water an hour. However, continuous rains have frustrated attempts to clear the passageways, with the water remaining at a steady level. Linh Pham/Getty Images AsiaPac/Getty Images Relatives of the stranded children and their coach gather at Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park to hear updated news on the rescuse efforts on Tuesday morning. A final rescue option could see the boys lifted through the roof of the cave chamber to safety, either through a natural opening or a drilled entry point. During an attempted rescue mission last week, trekkers found a hidden opening deep in the jungle, giving them another way to enter the cave system. The natural chimney was at least 1.5 meters in diameter and at least 22 meters (72 feet) deep. Though the opening did not connect to the area where the boys were discovered, now that the exact location is known, rescue efforts can focus on finding other, potentially hidden openings. Kocha Olarn/CNN Local volunteers join members of the Thai SEAL team at the entrance to the cave network. “Back here in the UK, there is an assessment of electronic equipment that may be suitable to pinpoint the underground location of the boys and coach with a greater degree of accuracy than the published surveys,” said Whitehouse. “They (the group) are also located in a relatively small space and this would make any potential drilling attempt as a means of rescue very difficult,” added Whitehouse.<doc-sep>"So at this point, you know, I think they would be better off bringing in food, water, filtration systems, oxygen if the air space needs it and requires it, and at least they have lights and hope now, so I think waiting it out, as long as they can get supplies in there to make them comfortable and warm and fed and hydrated."<doc-sep>
BANGKOK — Twelve boys and their soccer coach were found alive more than a week after they went missing in a flooded cave complex in Thailand, a provincial governor said Monday. The boys and their soccer coach were located nine days after first entering the Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex, Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn, said Monday night local time. The governor said rescue teams will send doctors and food to help, but more water needed to be pumped out of the caves before those trapped can be rescued. “We found them safe. But the operation isn’t over," the governor said, according to The Associated Press. Video showed the moment rescuers discovered the boys, who were huddled together with their coach in the dark. “How many of you are there?” one of the rescuers asks. “13?” “Yes, 13,” one of them says. “Brilliant,” the rescuer replies. Next, officials plan to send divers to stay with the team and medical doctors to monitor their conditions, according to a statement the Royal Thai Navy posted on social media. The next phase involves sending food that can last months while teaching all 13 survivors how to dive. Rescuers also plan to continue pumping water out of the cave complex, the navy said. Family members celebrate while camping out near Than Luang cave following news all members of children's football team and their coach were alive in the cave at Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province late July 2, 2018. Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP - Getty Images Steve Castonguay, a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, said in a statement that the embassy would continue assisting rescue efforts to bring home the boys and their coach safely. "We are following events closely and are thrilled with the latest development in this Thai-led, multilateral effort," he said. The boys, ages 11 to 16, and their coach had been stuck in the cave after a soccer game and near-constant rains since then have thwarted the search for them, according to the AP. Thai navy SEAL divers and rescue workers from other countries made initial progress through the narrow passageway early Monday after passing through a key chamber on Sunday whose high, murky waters had previously blocked their progress, the AP reported. Narongsak earlier said the passageway the divers made their way through goes upward in some places and downward in others and is extremely narrow, making it difficult for divers with all their gear to fit through, according to the AP. The rescue mission had been hampered late last week after at least three rescuers near the efforts of the cave complex appeared to suffer electric shocks, according to the AP. The incident was most probably caused by jerry-rigged electrical lines that had been fed into the caverns to power lights and pumps, according to the AP. Ambulances quickly arrived and witnesses saw three men being carried to them on stretchers. Police said their injuries were minor and the men were in stable condition, the AP reported. Nat Sumon reported from Bangkok, and Daniella Silva from New York.