"We had a little bit of hope that they might still be alive but we had to do it, we just had to move forward," Rear Adm Arpakorn Yuukongkaew said. "There was only a tiny bit of hope, but that's all we had to work with."<doc-sep>[UPDATED at 11:58 a.m. Eastern, July 10] The cave is empty again. With the rescued safe, it was time for the rescuers to make their own exit. On Tuesday, after 18 days of drama that gripped Thailand and the world, the last people exited the flooded cave complex in which 12 young soccer players and their coach had been trapped. Here are the latest developments. • The four members of the Thai military — one army doctor and three Navy SEAL members — who had stayed with the team for days came out of the cave together. The rescue operation is officially complete. [Go here to read a Q. and A. about why the rescue was so daunting by John Ismay, a Times reporter and former United States Navy diver.] • All members of the Wild Boars soccer team and their 25-year-old coach are safe at the Chiang Rai hospital, the authorities said.<doc-sep>Rear Adm. Arpakorn Yuukongkaew said Ake had used these meditation techniques to calm the boys, but also to make sure they used "as little air as possible" in the cave.<doc-sep>(CNN) — Wearing hospital masks and gowns, and waving to family members through protective glass, the freed Thai soccer players were finally able to have a reunion, of sorts. After almost three weeks trapped in the dark, away from their loved ones in a cave in northern Thailand, the boys, aged between 11 and 16, were allowed to see their relatives in a carefully controlled environment, as doctors are still concerned about their health. In video shown at a press briefing, some of the parents were in tears as they looked through the glass. The family members were not allowed to enter the room where they are being treated, in order to avoid infection, Dr Chaiyawej Thanapaisarn said. The doctor said three of the boys were being treated for minor cases of pneumonia, but predicted most would be discharged after about a week. Spring News Thailand Freed Thai boys in their hospital beds. “The recovery process should take around 30 days after they are discharged,” he added. Speaking to CNN after he left the hospital, Tanawat Viboonrungruang, the father of 11-year-old Titun, said he felt relieved to see his son was “still healthy.” Seeing his son through the glass, he said he only wanted to hug him. “I started to cry, everybody started to cry,” he said. “I want to say thanks to those who rescued my boy. And helped him to have a new life, it’s like a rebirth.” Thai Government Public Relations The rescued Thai boys, in a video grab, shown in their hospital beds. Weight dropped while in cave Speaking earlier Wednesday, health ministry inspector Tongchai Lertvirairatanapong said the boys were in “good condition,” despite each losing an average of two kilograms (4.4 pounds) in weight during their time in the cave. He attributed their relative good health to their coach, 25-year-old Ekkapol Ake Chantawong, a former monk who was the last person out. “I have to praise the coach who took care of the footballers very well,” Lertvirairatanapong said. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA/AFP/Getty Images The rescued team attends a news conference in Chiang Rai, Thailand, after being discharged from the hospital on Wednesday, July 18. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: Linh Pham/Getty Images Members of the soccer team greet well-wishers as they arrive for the news conference on July 18. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: Thailand's Ministry of Health and the Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital via AP The team poses with a sketched portrait of Saman Kunan, a former Thai Navy SEAL who died on July 6 while returning from an operation to deliver oxygen tanks to the cave. He ran out of air while underwater, an official said. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: Thai Navy Seal Handout Thai Navy SEALs pose for a photo after the rescue effort was finished on July 10. One of them was a doctor who stayed with the team for a week after the group was found alive on July 2. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: Thai Navy Seals Rescuers carry one of the boys out of the cave. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: Thai Navy Seals Divers wave through floodwaters in the cave. Each rescue took multiple hours. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: YE AUNG THU/AFP/Getty Images Chiang Rai Governor Narongsak Osotthanakorn speaks during a news conference held after the rescue was finished on July 10. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images A helicopter transports rescued boys to the hospital on July 10. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images People watch and cheer as a helicopter flies toward an airstrip to transport one of the rescued boys to a hospital. Four boys were rescued on July 8, another four were rescued on July 9, and the rest were rescued on July 10. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA/EFE Rescue workers leave after all members of the team had been saved. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: AP This photo tweeted by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk shows rescue efforts during the three-day mission. Musk tweeted early July 10 that he had visited the cave and left a mini-submarine there for future use. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: Navy Seals/UPI/Newscom Members of the Royal Thai Navy are pictured with the team inside the cave. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: Royal Thai Navy Facebook Page via AP The boys received medical attention after being found alive on July 2. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: Vincent Thian/AP An ambulance believed to be carrying one of the rescued boys heads to the hospital on July 10. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: Sakchai Lalit/AP Rescuers walk toward the entrance of the cave as rescue operations resumed on July 10. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA/EFE Hospital staff and a police officer are seen during a news conference that was held on July 10. The eight boys that had been rescued on July 8 and 9 were being treated in an isolation ward in a Chiang Rai hospital. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images Thai police and military officers use umbrellas to shield a rescued boy before he was transported to a hospital on July 9. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: YE AUNG THU/AFP/Getty Images An ambulance exits the cave area on July 9. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: RUNGROJ YONGRIT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock Emergency responders surround a helicopter on July 8. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: Royal Thai Navy/Handout/AP Rescue teams arrange a water-pumping system at the cave's entrance on July 7. Photos: Photos: Thai soccer team rescued from cave PHOTO: PONGMANAT TASIRI/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock Ambulances wait outside a hospital where the rescued boys were treated.<doc-sep>
An assistant coach, an Australian physician, a handful of Thailand's navy Seals and 100 determined professional first responders and volunteers were hailed as heroes Wednesday for the daring rescue of 12 members of the now-famous Wild Boars youth soccer team. Video released Wednesday from the hospital shows the boys, wearing hospital gowns and masks and sitting up in their beds, making victory signs to the camera and waving to ecstatic parents. Family members, some near tears, wave back from behind glass. The boys were famished and weak when they were found, having lost an average of more than 4 pounds each. But their spirits were high, and the rescue team brought them nutritional gels to slowly build their strength. All will remain in the hospital for several more days. They are now eating regular food, and some will be going home in a week. "Overall, the 13 people are in very good condition," Thai health official Thongchai Lertwilairatanapong said. More:Out of the cave, onto the big screen: Hollywood takes on Thai rescue More:Thai cave rescue operation saves boys, coach: What comes next Chaiwetch Thanapaisal, director of Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital, said the boys will be hospitalized for at least a week, then spend the next month at home recuperating. The boys and their coach, Ekapol Chantawong, walked into the cave June 23 after soccer practice for what was supposed to be a few hours of exploration. Heavy rains trapped them there, and it was 10 days before the first rescuers found them. It took more than a week after that for an international team of rescuers to get them all out. A Thai navy Seal ran out of oxygen and died during the preparations. The tragedy highlighted the dangers the cave presented. The group was extracted over three days. The final mission on Tuesday involved 100 people, including more than a dozen divers and Australian physician Richard Harris, who emerged from the cave after caring for the boys to learn that his own father had died. Expert divers guided each boy for several hours, navigating more than 2 miles of the narrow, twisting, dark and dangerous labyrinth. Some sections involved diving, and the boys were packed in wetsuits and facemasks while their companion divers carried oxygen tanks. Other sections of the cave involved walking, wading, crawling and climbing. Derek Anderson, a U.S. Air Force rescue specialist who was with a team of Americans aiding the operation, said some sections were dry but steep and rocky. “We had to set up rope systems and high-lines to be able to safely put them in a harness and bring them across large open areas,” Anderson said. "The world just needs to know that what was accomplished was a once-in-a-lifetime rescue." "Coach Ek" has drawn praise for his efforts to keep the boys alive for the almost 10 days they were trapped before being found. They drank only water that dripped from the walls, not the murky brew that trapped them. He taught them meditation to calm them and ate a smaller share of the few snacks they had brought in. They are survivors, and for some that is nothing new. Coach Ek and three of the boys have no nationality. They are from tribes in an area around Mae Sai known as the "Golden Triangle" stretching across parts of Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and China where borders have shifted and passports don't exist. "He is stateless. No nationality. No country," Nopparat Khanthavong, founder of the Wild Boars club, told AFP. The United Nations Refugee Agency estimates Thailand is home to more than 400,000 stateless people. The Thai government has pledged to attain zero statelessness by 2024. "To get nationality is the biggest hope for the boys," Nopparat said. "In the past, these boys have problems traveling to play matches outside of Chiang Rai because of their nationless status." Efforts are underway to provide the boys with Thai nationality. And they will be returning to their homes and schools as kings. Manchester United, a professional soccer team in Britain with fans around the globe, has invited them to a game. They even have an open invitation to Sunday's World Cup final game in Russia, though for medical reasons they are unlikely to attend. The world is thankful. Thailand is ecstatic. "We did something nobody thought possible," acting local Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said. "It was mission possible for team Thailand." Contributing: The Associated Press