Cave rescue of boys soccer team in Thailand Thai Navy SEAL via Facebook All 12 members of a youth soccer team and their coach were successfully rescued from a cave in Thailand where they had been stranded for more than two weeks. Four boys were rescued by expert divers on Sunday, July 8; another four were freed Monday, July 9; and the last four boys and their coach were brought to safety on Tuesday, July 10. Two divers were assigned to each child to help them navigate the dangerous, narrow passageways. Some were brought out on stretchers and all were taken to the hospital. "We are not sure if this is a miracle, a science, or what. All the thirteen Wild Boars are now out of the cave," said a post on the Thai Navy Seals Facebook page, referring to the name of the boys' soccer team. "Everyone is safe." Here, the boys covered in hypothermia blankets are seen in a still image taken from a July 3, 2018, video by Thai Navy SEAL, shortly after they were found alive but trapped deep underground. Stranded Thai Navy SEAL via Facebook The boys, ages 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach became stranded when they went exploring the Tham Luang cave after a practice game. Monsoon flooding blocked off their escape and prevented rescuers from finding them for almost 10 days. Complex mission Thai Navy SEAL via Facebook The operation to rescue them from the cave has been complex and hampered by extreme weather. On July 5, the death of a former Thai navy SEAL, who was placing oxygen canisters into the cave's tunnels, highlighted the risks of the mission. Found Thai Navy SEAL via Facebook An image from video posted June 2, 2018, on the Facebook page of the Thai Navy SEAL team shows the soccer players and their assistant coach stuck deep in Thailand's Tham Luang Nan cave after being found by rescue divers. Joyous volunteers Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty Images Volunteers celebrate at a makeshift press centre in Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province, Thailand, on July 10 after the last of the 12 boys and their coach were rescued from a flooded cave. Celebration Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images A woman lifts her child near the hospital, seen at left, as ambulance transporting members of the children's soccer team arrives in the northern Thai city of Chiang Rai on July 10 after being rescued from the Tham Luang cave. Relief Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images People react near a hospital where the rescued boys were being treated, in Chiang Rai, Thailand, on July 10. Waiting near the hospital Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images People wait near a hospital where the boys were being treated after being rescued, in Chiang Rai on July 10. Mission accomplished Thai NavySEAL via Facebook The four Thai Navy SEALS who helped rescue the last four boys and their coach from the cave also emerged safely on Tuesday. Onlookers Linh Pham/Getty Images Onlookers watch and cheer as ambulances transport the 10th rescued boy from a helipad near Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital on July 10. Cheers Getty Images Onlookers watch and cheer as ambulances transport some of the rescued schoolboys from a helipad to Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital on July 10. Their whereabouts BBC News Divers located the missing boys and their coach about 300-400 meters past a section of the cave that was on higher ground. A risky mission CBS This graphic illustrates the escape route that rescuers had to navigate to free 12 boys and their soccer coach from the flooded cave. Tight squeeze CBS This graphic illustrates a so-called "pinch point" in the escape route for 12 boys and their soccer coach in a flooded cave. A complex operation CBS News Rescuers have been working nonstop to pump water out of the cave and line escape routes with oxygen tanks. Dozens of international search and rescue experts, including a U.S. military team, have been involved in the attempt to bring the boys and their coach to safety. Schoolmates Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images Classmates of one of the boys trapped in the cave visit a tribute for the Wild Boars soccer team at the entrance of Ban Waingphan school on July 9, 2018 in Chiangrai, Thailand. The search AP Thai rescue workers enter the cave in a photo released by the Royal Thai Navy on Saturday, July 7, 2018. International effort Thai NavySEAL via Facebook The Thai Navy SEAL team posted a photo on Facebook symbolizing the bond and the international effort to rescue the boys and their soccer coach. Strategizing Thai NavySEAL via Facebook A Thai Navy officer tries to figure out a way to pull water out of the cave as quickly as possible. Getting the water out Thai NavySEAL via Facebook Army and Navy officers bring water cylinders to transport rushing and rising water out of the cave. Exploring the cave Thai NavySEAL via Facebook A Thai Navy SEAL explores the cave in preparation for the rescue mission. Rescued Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images Onlookers watch and cheer as ambulances transport some of the rescued soccer players from a helipad to a hospital on July 9. Fifth boy rescued Getty Images Onlookers watch and cheer as a helicopter flies towards an airstrip near Tham Luang Nang Non cave to transport the fifth boy rescued from the cave to hospital on July 9. Classmate Getty Images A classmate of the Wild Boars soccer team talks to the press about his hopes for the group's safe return at the Maisaiprasitart School on July 9. A teammate Getty Images Chill, 14, one of the members of the Wild Boars soccer team who did not enter the cave with his teammates, speaks to the press about his hopes for their safe rescue on July 9. Prayers Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images People pray with Buddhist monks near the hospital where the boys rescued from the cave were brought for observation on July 9. Rescued Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images Onlookers watch and cheer as ambulances transport some of the rescued boys from a helipad to a hospital on July 9.<doc-sep>Dozens of local and international rescuers, including a team of Thai navy divers and several cave experts, had spent the past few days helping to locate the team, but rising and muddy waters that showed no signs of receding stymied efforts and blocked access to chambers of the cave. According to the Associated Press, rescuers drilled a hole into the side of the cave to try to drain the water, while others attempted to find alternative routes inside.<doc-sep>The 12 members of a Thai youth football team and their coach rescued from a cave have been invited to Old Trafford by Manchester United. Royal Thai Navy Seals confirmed the rescue operation was complete on Tuesday afternoon (UK time) after three days of heroic efforts by divers, with all of those trapped carried out alive. The 12 boys, aged 11-16, and their coach, 25, are part of Wild Boars Football Club in Thailand. They were trapped by floods more than two weeks ago. Image: Onlookers watch and cheer as ambulances transport rescued boys in Thailand FIFA has invited the team to attend the World Cup final on Sunday, but doctors have said they would need to stay in hospital for at least a week to ensure they are in good health. Two of the eight rescued so far have shown signs of a potential lung infection, but there is a hope they could honour the invite. When the first four were rescued, one of the first things they asked was how the tournament was going. #MUFC is relieved to learn that the 12 footballers and their coach trapped in a cave in Thailand are now safe. Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected. We would love to welcome the team from Wild Boars Football Club and their rescuers to Old Trafford this coming season. pic.twitter.com/5CGMoD1Msq — Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 10, 2018 The whole team have also received an invite from Manchester United, though. "MUFC is relieved to learn that the 12 footballers and their coach trapped in a cave in Thailand are now safe," Manchester United have said in a statement. Also See: Delight as all 12 boys and coach rescued Amazing news that all of the Thai kids are out of the cave safely! I'd like to send out shirts to them! Is there anyone who can help with an address? @England pic.twitter.com/pQYwW4SPh7 — Kyle Walker (@kylewalker2) July 10, 2018 "Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected. We would love to welcome the team from Wild Boars Football Club and their rescuers to Old Trafford this coming season." England defender Kyle Walker also expressed his relief the team had been rescued, posting a picture of one of the boys who was in an England shirt. Walker tweeted: "Amazing news that all of the Thai kids are out of the cave safely! I'd like to send out shirts to them! Is there anyone who can help with an address?"<doc-sep>CHIANG RAI, Thailand -- The 12 boys and their soccer coach who remain trapped inside a partly flooded cave in northern Thailand appeared healthy and upbeat in new video released Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, rescuers are frantically trying to come up with a plan to extract the boys from the depths of the cave as safely, and quickly, as possible. The teammates, between the ages of 11 and 16, hiked into Tham Luang Nang Non, Thailand's longest cave, with their 25-year-old soccer coach after practice on June 23. It's believed that the coach often brought his team to the popular tourist site in mountainous Chiang Rai province for fun excursions. But as the group ventured deeper into the complex, the sky opened up and it began to rain, flooding the cave and cutting off their exit route. The group forged ahead before finding a raised, dry chamber where they were stranded in total darkness. Thai officials launched a massive search and rescue operation involving more than 1,000 people, including specialists drafted in from various nations such as Australia, China, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The search and rescue teams tried anything they could to locate the boys and their coach -- deploying ultrasonic sensors into the cave, drilling through the rock and dropping survival packages down holes they found above ground in hopes the shafts connect to the cave network below. After more than a week, two British cave divers found all 13 alive in an area of the cave that's about three miles from the main entrance. But the trek there was treacherous and took about six hours on Monday. The divers, John Volanthen and Richard Stanton, had to navigate through a labyrinth of caverns and tunnels, both dry and flooded, with some barely wide enough for their diving equipment. "They are cave divers with experience of diving in very flooded caves all over the world and some rescue operations as well," Bill Whitehouse, the vice chairman of the British Cave Rescue Council, told ABC News of Volanthen and Stanton. "They had skills to go in through the flooded passages and lay a guideline for others to follow and clear obstructions to allow people to get through. So, they were the pathfinders." Volanthen and Stanton, who are members of the British Cave Council, described to colleagues the challenging hazards within the cave, including poor visibility, powerful currents in the floodwaters, extremely narrow passageways and one flooded area they said was about 5,000 feet long, half of which had no airspace to emerge if something when awry underwater. "It's not like open water diving where you can just surface if something goes wrong," Whitehouse said. "If you have gone 200 meters down a flooded cave passing, if anything wrong you have to come out that 200 meters before you can put your head up above water." While they were in relatively good shape, some of the boys complained of being weak from stress and lack of food while others suffered from minor injuries, such as scrapes and cuts. They have received high-protein drinks and medical assessments by the group of seven Royal Thai Navy members, a medical doctor and nurse who are staying with them. "All 13 people are well," Royal Thai Navy commander Rear Adm. Arpakorn Yookongkaew told reporters Tuesday. "We have given the boys food, starting with easily digested and high-powered food with enough minerals." Thai officials are also working to run a fiber optic phone line into the cave so the boys can speak with their families waiting anxiously outside. It's unclear exactly how and when rescuers will extract the group, and Thai officials have cautioned that it could take "weeks or months." Crews have been scouring the region's rugged jungle-covered terrain in hopes of finding a safer way to enter the cave complex underground. They've also attempted to pump water from the flooded areas of the cave, but persistent downpours have hampered their efforts as Thailand enters its rainy season. Thai officials said the boys have been wearing diving masks and practicing breathing, in case heavy rains forecast for this weekend force the group to swim and dive out the same way rescuers entered. "We need to be careful not to rush; as long as they are safe and strong, then they are in good hands," Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan Ocha told reporters Tuesday. "We can now reach and communicate with them so they are in our sights." American citizen Brandon Fox told ABC News he knows one of the boys from working with his family through a Thai Christian foundation in Mae Sae, the northernmost district of Chiang Rai province. Fox, who is originally from Michigan and has lived in Thailand for the past eight years, described the boy as smart and a skilled soccer player. "He's a very, very special kid," Fox told ABC News in an interview Wednesday. "I think he has a bright future." Throughout this ordeal, Fox has been helping the boy's family however he can, such as driving them to and from the cave and bringing them food. "I live here so I try to be as Thai as possible. And the Thai way is you’re hospitable, you serve, you help in whatever way you can,” said Fox, who lives with his wife and children in Chiang Rai. Fox recalled the moment he met up with the boy's family on Monday night, shortly after they had learned their son was found alive. "I’ll never forget seeing the dad and just this huge embrace," he told ABC News. "Those hugs that evening were some of the best hugs I’ll ever remember." The family has remained hopeful and "confident" all along that their son would be OK, Fox said. "I would tell everybody," he said, "if you want to have hope, talk to the family." ABC News' Dada Jovanovic contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
A DANGEROUS rescue mission to save 12 boys and their football coach trapped in a cave in Thailand is over with all making it out alive. Divers from around the world joined Thailand's elite navy SEAL unit to recover the stricken lads. Here's what you need to know about the rescue. 3 Pictured are the Thai boys trapped in the cave near Chiang Rai Credit: AFP Why were the Thai football team in the cave? The boys, all aged between 11 and 16, disappeared along with their 25-year-old coach after football practice on June 23. They had set out to explore the cave complex to celebrate a boy's birthday. The alarm was first raised when the "Wild Boars" team failed to return home and their belongings were found near the entrance to the caves. Rescuers then faced a race against time to find the boys as heavy rain continued to batter the region. 3 The 12 boys and their football coach have disappeared in the Mae Sai district of Northern Thailand Credit: Google Maps How did they get stuck? Heavy floods cut off their escape and stopped rescuers from reaching them for almost 10 days. When they finally found the boys, they were weak but alive and the rescue mission began. Sadly, former elite Navy SEAL Saman Kunan tragically died trying to save the boys. What was the rescue plan? The rescue operation began on June 25 with the cave drained the next day to allow navy divers to operate in the cave complex. On June 28, British drivers joined the rescue and finally on July 2 the boys were discovered alive. 3 On July 8 — the first day of the mission — rescuers were able to bring four boys to safety. They were forced to trawl through dark, narrow passageways, some of which are no more than two feet (0.6 metre) wide. This is the dangerous route that claimed former Thai Navy SEAL Saman Kunan's life after he ran out of oxygen. The first two boys were rescued at around 6pm local time. Shortly before 8pm, the Thai Navy SEALs reported on their official Facebook page that four had been rescued. The next phase began on July 9 and a eighth boy was rescued. How the rescue operation unfolded June 23 -12 young players and their "Wild Boars" team coach enter Tham Luang cave complex in Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand June 25 - The search and rescue operation begins June 26 - Cave drained so divers can join the search June 27 - Heavy rain blocks hopes of reaching the boys as teams struggle through water inside the cave June 28 - British divers join the rescue but heavy rain continues to hamper the search July 1 - The rain eases as divers from the Thai Navy SEAL unit make progress though the water-filled passages of the cave July 2 - The boys are found alive but "very weak" with video footage showing the teens looking frail July 3 - The military says the boys must learn to dive but caving experts warn this could be extremely dangerous July 6 - Former Navy SEAL diver Saman Gunan dies while taking part in the mission to rescue the boys July 7 - As the rescue plans are worked on, the boys write letters home to their worried families July 8 - The rescue mission begins with the first four out the cave by mid-afternoon UK time July 9 - Another four boys are rescued and taken to hospital for treatment July 10 - All 12 boys and the coach have made it out of the caves MOST READ IN NEWS 'GOBSMACKED' Queen 'gave Harry OK for Oprah series after misleading pitch about soldiers' ROD LIDDLE Ousting right-on National Trust boss is a victory against wokery DRUMMER DEAD School Of Rock star dies at 32 after being hit by car as Jack Black mourns HOUSE ABOUT IT You won't believe what this ordinary London home looks like on the inside Exclusive TOM'S LEGACY Captain Tom Moore — who raised £39m for charity — left family £73k in will JABS HOPE Scientists 'crack cause of blood clots linked to Covid jabs & know how to fix it' It was confirmed on July 10 that all 12 boys and their coach had been rescued after 17 days trapped in the flooded cave.