Chiang Rai, Thailand (CNN) A medical assessment of the 12 boys and their football coach stuck in a cave in Northern Thailand concluded that it was too dangerous to try to move the group out Thursday, according to a member of the Thai Navy SEALs who is not authorized to speak to the media. A military operation in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex is employing hundreds of industrial pumps to drain the water along the 2.5-mile (4km) path from the entrance to the area where the children and their football coach have been sheltering for 12 days. “It’s about 11 hours – six on the way from the entrance to where the kids are and five on the way back,” he said.  Hundreds of pumps clearing water along 4km path in hope of avoiding need for scuba gear 
 
 Thai rescuers say 12 boys trapped deep inside a cave complex may be able to walk out, provided the route can be drained before the monsoon showers predicted for the weekend. Instead, around 20 to 30 teams are currently scouring the mountainside in search of alternative natural entrances, called chimneys, into the cave complex. Smiling and at times laughing, they introduce themselves one by one. Ideally, enough water could be pumped out from the cave such that the boys could wade through or swim out (or at least be “floated”) from the cave complex.
– Reports on the 12 boys trapped in a cave in Thailand along with their soccer coach have generally quoted officials as describing the group as in good health. CNN is changing that narrative somewhat, referencing a new doctor's report that described the coach and two boys as experiencing exhaustion from malnutrition and quoting an unnamed Thai Navy SEALs member who says that based on the group's health, no extraction effort will be made on Thursday. And the timeline may be tight, with CNN reporting the area is expected to be dry until Saturday, at which point the chance of rain—and rising cave waters—spikes. It notes that the current round-trip time for the divers who have reached the boys is 11 hours. But the Guardian reports hundreds of industrial pumps continue to suck water from the cave system in hopes of draining the levels to the point where the group can don life vests and cover the 2.5-mile distance out largely on foot. A rescue official says they're currently focusing on draining the third chamber to waist height; of the remaining chambers, which measure about 1.5 miles, a diver at the scene speculates about half would be walkable, with the water reaching a maximum depth of about 20 feet. Gizmodo reports the "herculean efforts" at the site have seen 34 million gallons of water pumped out, at a current rate of about 0.6 inches per hour.