As it happened: 12 Thai boys and teacher found alive after nine days in cave

National news has been dominated by updates on the search for 12 boys and their football coach

Boys found alive in cave in Thailand

Rescuers have found the 12 boys and their football coach who have been missing inside a flooded mountain cave in northern Thailand for more than a week.

“They are all safe, but the mission is not completed, local Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn said. "Our mission is to search, rescue and return, so far we just found them. Next mission is to bring them out from the cave and send them home.“

The Chiang Rai governor said experts would continue to drain the waters out of the cave while sending doctors and nurses to dive in to check the health of the boys and their coach.

“If the doctors say their physical condition is strong enough to be moved, they will take them out from the cave,” he said. “We will look after them until they can return to school.“

Divers from a Thai navy SEAL unit were within 500 metres of a chamber containing an elevated rock where they boys might have sought refuge.

The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach entered Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai province on 23 June, when heavy rains flooded key passages of the cave and blocked the way out.

National news has been dominated by updates from the search, which involves more than 1,000 personnel, including rescue teams from Britain, the United States and elsewhere.

Progress towards a rescue was slow, as muddy water having risen to fill sections of the cave and forced the divers to withdraw for safety reasons.

When water levels dropped Sunday, divers went forward with a more methodical approach, deploying a rope line and extra oxygen supplies along the way.

Doctors have said the boys could survive for days without food, they needed to find water clean enough to drink.

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 which might serve as a back door to the blocked-off areas where the missing may be sheltering.

Teams have been combing the mountainside looking for fissures which might lead to such shafts.

Several have been found and explorers have been able to descend into some, but so far it is not clear whether they lead to anywhere useful.

Additional reporting by agencies

[2 July 2018 16:48 · Steve Anderson]

All 12 boys and their football coach have been found alive after nine days missing in the caves in Thailand, the regional governor has said.

[2 July 2018 17:00 · Steve Anderson]

The governor of Chiang Rai, Narongsak Osatanakorn said that the group are safe following the massive search operation in the Tham Luang Nang Non caves.

[2 July 2018 17:04 · Steve Anderson]

"Thai Navy seals have found all 13 with signs of life," Governor Narongsak told reporters, speaking about the divers that had spearheaded the search..

[2 July 2018 17:09 · Steve Anderson]

The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach disappeared when flooding trapped them after they entered Tham Luang Nang Non cave on 23 June.

Navy divers and rescue workers entered a narrow passageway early on Monday after passing through a key chamber on Sunday whose high, murky waters had previously blocked their progress.

[2 July 2018 17:17 · Steve Anderson]

Governor Narongsak made clear that despite the good news, the operation is not over until all the children and their coach have been rescued. "We found them safe. But the operation isn't over," he said.

[2 July 2018 17:39 · Steve Anderson]

More from Governor Narongsak Osottanakorn:

"They are all safe, but the mission is not completed. Our mission is to search, rescue and return, so far we just found them. Next mission is to bring them out from the cave and send them home.“

The governor said they would continue to drain the waters out of the cave while sending doctors and nurses to dive in to check the health of the boys and their coach.

"If the doctors say their physical condition is strong enough to be moved, they will take them out from the cave," he said. "We will look after them until they can return to school.“

[2 July 2018 17:51 · Kristin Hugo]

Journalists try to interview a military officer near the Tham Luang cave complex where the boys were found (REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun) 

[2 July 2018 17:59 · Kristin Hugo]

Thailand's prime minister has thanked international experts and rescuers who helped find the 12 boys and their soccer coach who had been missing in a cave for more than a week.

The Prime Minister's Office said Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha "wishes to thank the tremendous efforts of all international units that have come to assist the Thai authorities in rescuing the youth football team that was stuck in the caves in Chiang Rai. 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."

[2 July 2018 18:10 · Kristin Hugo]

Medical teams have been sent inside the cave to assess the group's health before deciding how to get them out, Governor Narongsak Osottanakorn said. He estimated the assessment effort would take about four hours.

[2 July 2018 18:20 · Kristin Hugo]

The rescue workers have reached "Pattaya beach," a nickname they gave to an elevated mound inside the cave, according to Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn. He added that the area – where rescuers thought the team may have sought refuge – appeared to have been flooded by the rains.