BBC/ AFP: Rescuers have begun a mission to evacuate 12 boys and their coach from the cave where they have been trapped for two weeks.
Teams entered the cave at 10:00 local time (03:00 GMT), operation chief Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters.
Earlier:
Thai authorities told media on Sunday to leave a camp site near the cave where 12 boys and their coach have been trapped for more than two weeks so that “victims” could be helped, possibly signalling a rescue effort to get them out.
The “Wild Boars” team has been trapped in a cramped chamber several kilometres (miles) inside the Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand since June 23, when they went in after football practice and were hemmed in by monsoon floods.
Their plight has transfixed Thailand and the rest of the world, with more than 1,000 journalists registered to cover the rescue staking out a small patch of muddy land at the top of a hill near the entrance to monitor the race against time.
“Everyone who is not involved with the operations has to get out of the area immediately,” police announced via loudspeaker at the site on Sunday morning.
“From the situation assessment, we need to use the area to help victims.”
The order to leave the site came a day after the rescue mission chief said conditions were perfect for the evacuation to begin, but also as fears mounted that expected rains could thwart the plan by reflooding the cave.
Officials did not clarify on Sunday morning whether the complex effort had started to extract the boys, aged from 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach.
