"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>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>Twelve boys and their soccer coach were found alive in cave in Thailand. Twelve boys and their soccer coach, lost for 10 days in a cave in Thailand, have been found alive, officials announced Monday. "Thai Navy SEALs have found all 13 with signs of life," Narongsak Osottanakorn, the governor of the Chiang Rai province, told reporters. Rescuers are now working to extract the team from the cave. The Thai Navy SEALs posted a video on Facebook showing the group when they were first found. The boys appeared to be in good health and were talking, asking what day it was and being told by rescuers that more help was on the way. "I am very happy," one of the boys said in English. "Thank you so much." A British diver on the SEAL team told the group, "You have been here 10 days. You are very strong." One of the boys asked him, "What time do we go outside?" The diver responded, "No, not today, not today. There's two of us. You have to dive. We're coming. It's OK. Many people are coming. Many, many people. We're the first. Many people come." The divers provided the group with lights and told them food and medical help were on the way. "Where are you from?" one of the rescued boys asked. The diver answered, "England, the UK." "God bless you," another member of the rescued party was heard saying. When a Thai military official announced the rescue at a base camp near the mouth of the cave, loud cheers went up from the searchers, who had been praying and working feverishly for such an outcome. Aisha Wiboonrungrueng's 11-year-old son, Chanin Wiboonrungrueng, was among rescued. "He would love to eat a fried omelet," the ecstatic mother told reporters. Ben Reymenants, a Belgian diver who is part of an international contingent that had been searching for the soccer team, said he was briefed by an operation commander on the rescue. He said the children and their coach were weak when they were found and that a medic was now with them in the cave, providing medical assistance. Reymenants told ABC News the race is on to safely remove the group from the cave over the next 12 hours before the next rainstorm hits. The miraculous rescue came during a lull in the torrential rains that had hampered the agonizing search. The respite from the rain also gave rescuers confidence to push forward in an area of the subterranean labyrinth they had hoped the boys and their coach were waiting to be saved. Gov. Osottanakorn said the rescuers reached the area known as Pattaya Beach where they thought they would find the lost group. When they arrived the area was flooded. He said the rescuers forged ahead about another 1,000 feet, where they discovered the boys and their coach. "It is another high ground," Osottanakorn said of where the group was located. "We found that our younger brothers are safe." Reymenants said the team was found in the dark and wet underground web of tunnels in the jungle of northern Thailand about a day after rescuers spotted fresh writing on a wall of one of the passageways. "I'm feeling so happy. This is like out of a movie, truthfully," U.S. Air Force Capt. Jessica Tait, a spokeswoman for the 353rd Special Operations Group, told ABC News at the base camp near the entrance to the cave. "I felt elation. I felt so excited," she said of getting the news that the team had been located. The 12 boys, ranging in age from 11 to 16, and their coach went missing after entering the Tham Luang Nang Non cave for an excursion on June 23. Officials believe the team became trapped when monsoon rains flooded passages and blocked their path back to the entrance of the cave where authorities found their bicycles. Rescuers were hoping to find the group in the dryer part of the cave, where nooks, crannies, chambers and tunnels run six miles beneath the rugged mountains near the borders of Myanmar and Laos. Divers had to pull themselves along with rope against powerful currents in the cave's water. The visibility was so poor that one rescuer described it as swimming through coffee. The rescue operation had gripped the attention of Thailand and beyond as people across the region collectively prayed for a miracle in the search that had entered its tenth day on Monday. Crews of geologists working outside the cave have been drilling into the grottos to create potential escape shafts closer to the area where rescuers had hoped to find the wayward party. Crews have also been working above ground to pump flood waters out of the cave to give rescuers better access to search passageways. Before the jubilant announcement of the rescue, officials conceded they were in a desperate race against time and weather. Meteorologists were forecasting a 30 to 40 percent chance of thunderstorms in the northern region of the country on Wednesday. About 1,000 volunteers and rescuers, including a U.S. military team, had established a base camp near the mouth of the cave. Family members of the lost group were also in the area monitoring any news from rescuers and praying at a makeshift shrine. Search teams from China, Japan, Australia and England had also traveled to the area to assist in the rescue operations.<doc-sep>MAE SAI, Thailand -- Rescuers found all 12 boys and their soccer coach alive deep inside a partially flooded cave in northern Thailand late on Monday, more than a week after the team disappeared and touched off a desperate search that drew international help and captivated the nation. Chiang Rai provincial Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said the 13 were in the process of being rescued, but he cautioned that they were not out of peril yet. "We found them safe. But the operation isn't over," he said in comments broadcast nationwide. Rescue divers had spent much of Monday making preparations for a final push to locate the lost soccer players, ages 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach. They disappeared when flooding trapped them after entering the Tham Luang Nang Non cave on June 23. Rescue workers pump water from the cave in Thailand where a youth soccer team went missing over a week ago. Royal Thai Army/EPA Anmar Mirza, a leading American cave rescue expert, said many challenges remain for the rescuers. He said the primary decision is whether to try to evacuate the boys and their coach or to supply them in place. "Supplying them on site may face challenges depending on how difficult the dives are," Mirza, coordinator of the U.S. National Cave Rescue Commission, said in an email. "Trying to take non-divers through a cave is one of the most dangerous situations possible, even if the dives are relatively easy. That also begets the question: If the dives are difficult then supply will be difficult, but the risk of trying to dive them out is also exponentially greater." Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha thanked the international experts and rescuers who helped locate the missing for their "tremendous efforts." "The Royal Thai Government and the Thai people are grateful for this support and cooperation, and we all wish the team a safe and speedy recovery," Prayuth's office said in a statement. 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 where high, murky waters had previously blocked their progress. Gov. 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 and their gear to fit through. Divers have been stymied repeatedly by rising water that forced them to withdraw for safety reasons. When water levels fell Sunday, the divers went forward with a more methodical approach, deploying a rope line and extra oxygen supplies along the way. The Facebook page for the SEALs said that since Sunday night, the divers had reached a bend where the half-mile-long passage splits in two directions. The divers were aiming for a sandy chamber on higher ground in the cave. Narongsak explained earlier Monday that fixing rope lines and deploying oxygen tanks along their route will allow the divers to operate. In addition to the divers, teams have been working to pump out water as well as divert groundwater. Other efforts have focused on finding shafts on the mountainside that might serve as a back door to the blocked-off areas. Teams have been combing the mountainside looking for fissure that might lead to such shafts. Several have been found and explorers have been able to descend into some. Experts in cave rescues from around the world had gathered at the site. An official Australian group has followed a U.S. military team, British cave experts, Chinese lifesaving responders and several other volunteer groups from various countries. "These are challenging conditions and there's a lot of consideration for safety, as well as the environment outside is contributing to the environment inside," said U.S. Air Force Capt. Jessica Tait, part of a 30-member U.S. military team assisting in the search operation, referring to the rain that has been flooding the cave. "So I'd say, yeah, it's an accurate statement that it's challenging."<doc-sep>
Nine days. That's how long 12 boys and their soccer coach were missing, believed to be trapped in a flooded cave in northern Thailand, presumably stuck without food or drinking water or much by way of survival gear, and almost certainly scared for their lives. But rescue teams refused to give up. And on Monday, after nine long and arduous days, the boys and their coach were found alive in the cave — a godsend for their anxious families and joyous news for a country that had been riveted to televisions and social media, desperate for updates. The discovery was the culmination of an evidently painstaking operation involving Thai navy SEAL divers, a U.S. military team, British cave experts, Chinese first responders, and volunteer workers from countries around the world. It was, by all accounts, a challenging mission laden with setbacks. The divers, for example, were thwarted again and again by rising floodwater that forced them to pull out of the extremely narrow passageway to the cave. Here's an overview: June 23 The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach disappear after a soccer game. They are thought to be caught in the partially flooded Tham Luang Nan Non cave in Chiang Rai, a popular tourist attraction in the region. Families report the boys missing when they do not come back from team practice. June 24 A rescue operation begins, and some workers begin to bring in pumps to be used to decrease the water level. June 25 The deputy governor of the Chiang Rai Province, Passakorn Bunyalak, tells reporters that he is confident the soccer team is alive. "The kids are athletes, and they have skills," he says. "They are alert all the time, and they are always active. They will try to survive by continuing to move." Thai soldiers carry equipment inside the flooded cave complex. Royal Thai Army / via EPA June 27 Heavy rainfall hampers rescue efforts. The underground passages are flooded faster than the water, rising in some places at a rate of nearly 6 inches per hour, can be pumped out. The relevant agencies work furiously, scouring the site in 24-hour rotations. June 28 A U.S. military team and British cave experts join the Thai navy to help with the frantic search. The divers continue to face strenuous conditions. They must fit their bodies around L-shaped bends in the passageway, for example. Meanwhile, crews search for shafts from the surface of the mountain that might present another way of getting into the blocked parts of the cave. June 29 Another setback: At least three rescuers near the entrance to the cave appear to suffer electric shocks. The likely cause: Jerry-rigged electrical lines snaking through the caverns to power lights and pumps. Officials prepare oxygen tanks during the rescue operation. Royal Thai Army / EPA July 1 The water levels fall, and the navy SEAL divers pass through a chamber where murky floodwaters had previously cut off their efforts. They use a methodical technique, moving along with a rope line and extra oxygen tanks, and manage to enlarge the passageway. July 2 The boys and their coach are found alive, clustered on the floor of the cave in their uniforms. The governor says crews will send doctors and food to help. But more water will need to be pumped out of the caves before the soccer team can be rescued. "We found them safe. But the operation isn't over," the governor says. July 3 Thailand's navy SEALS detailed eight steps they will be taking in order to return each member of the soccer team to safety, the National News Bureau of Thailand reported. At the top of the list is an assessment of each of the boy's health conditions and ability to make the journey out of the cave system to where a field hospital will be set up. Anyone in critical condition will receive immediate treatment at the makeshift hospital near the cave's entrance, while those who can be moved will be flown by helicopter to Chiang Rai Hospital, where doctors briefed on the boys' conditions will be ready to provide treatment. The entire rescue for each person was predicted to take about 30 minutes.