AP: Four ambulances on Monday left the area around the flooded cave in northern Thailand where members of a youth soccer team have been trapped for more than two weeks, suggesting that a total of eight of the 13 trapped people have now been extracted.
Thai officials have been tight-lipped about the rescue operation, and would not comment on how many people were removed Monday.
Reuters on the other hand said that the rescue workers in Thailand brought out four people on Monday from a flooded cave where 12 boys and their soccer coach were trapped for more than two weeks, apparently taking the total number rescued to eight.
Earlier
Euronews: A fifth boy has been rescued from a flooded cave system in Thailand, say navy officials.
Reuters. Eight boys and their soccer coach who remain trapped in a flooded cave in northern Thailand waited for a rescue operation to resume on Monday, a day after the first four were brought out safely and whisked away to hospital.
The daring and dangerous bid to rescue the boys – aged between 11 and 16 – was suspended by the mission chief late on Sunday to replenish oxygen supplies and make new preparations, which he said would take at least 10 hours.
Divers had to hold the boys close to their bodies to bring them out and each had to wear an oxygen mask to enable normal breathing, authorities said.
Bursts of heavy rain soaked the Tham Luang Cave area in Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai province overnight, increasing the risks in what has been called a “war with water and time” to save the boys.
The story of the “Wild Boars” soccer team, who first ventured into the caves more than two weeks ago before flood waters trapped them inside, has gripped Thai and international media.
“Football’s Coming Home. First Wild Boars Out,” a headline on one online Thai paper said on Monday, referring to a song chanted by English soccer fans at the World Cup currently underway in Russia.
The boys were discovered huddled on a muddy bank by British divers a week ago. A video showed one of them was wearing an England soccer shirt.
EARLIER:
CNN: At least four of 12 boys were rescued Sunday after being trapped for more than two weeks in a flooded cave network in northern Thailand.Their soccer coach remains inside the cave with the other boys.
It’s not clear yet which boys were rescued. The boys are from several schools in the Chiang Rai province of northern Thailand.
In the days since their ordeal began, some details have emerged about their ages, favorite foods and soccer teams:
• Two boys had birthdays on the day the group went missing, June 23.
• Another boy’s family said the first thing they’ll do when he’s out is throw a birthday party for him.
• The youngest boy is 11 years old, and said he’s looking forward to eating fried chicken after he’s rescued.
Reuters: Four of 12 schoolboys have been rescued so far from a flooded Thai cave after divers launched a daring and dangerous mission to free the children and their soccer coach, who were trapped underground for more than two weeks, Thai officials said.
“I have received information that six have exited the cave”, a senior member of the rescue team told Reuters.
Thirteen foreign divers and five members of Thailand’s elite navy SEAL unit are trying to bring the rest of the boys – some as young as 11 and weak swimmers – through narrow, submerged passageways that claimed the life of a former Thai navy diver on Friday.
A helicopter flew some of the boys to the nearby city of Chiang Rai where they were taken by ambulance to hospital.
CNN: A member of the rescue team stationed at the entrance of the cave witnessed at least three boys evacuated out of the Thailand cave Sunday, as authorities race against time to free the boys and their soccer coach who have been underground for more than two weeks.
This comes several hours after a team of 13 international cave diving experts and five Thai Navy SEALs entered the cave to begin the treacherous attempt to accompany the boys one by one through the flooded, narrow tunnels. Narongsak Osottanakorn, the governor of Chiang Rai province, said that in addition to the Thai team, the rescuers were from the US, Australia, China and Europe.
The rescue mission is far from over. To reach the boys, divers must navigate a series of dark, flooded tunnels for up to six hours. With the entire round trip taking roughly 11 hours to complete, it could be days before the entire group emerges.
The first two members of a Thai schoolboy soccer team have been rescued from the flooded cave where they had been trapped for more than two weeks, a local rescue official said on Sunday.
