Thai cave rescue: Trapped team and coach now free and receiving hospital treatment - as it happened
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Your support makes all the difference.Eighteen days after entering the caves on a team-bonding session, the remaining lost boys and their coach, as well as all rescue and medical personnel, emerged alive and well on Tuesday, following a daring and precarious operation, which saw one volunteer Navy seal lose his life.
Narongsak Osatanaskorn, the former governor who has led the rescue, made the official announcement at 9.45pm on Tuesday evening, after a tense few days of rescue missions.
“I never imagined this could happen – but we did it. We completed mission impossible,” the beaming rescue chief told a throng of hundreds of reporters and support crew, before stepping forth and inviting the crowd to join him and pose for photos.
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The team of expert divers from Thailand and around the world completed their improbable mission some 60 hours after a round-the-clock operation was launched on Sunday morning, as seasonal monsoon rains threatened to trap the boys and their coach inside the caves for months.
The 13 were stranded on a 10-square-metre ledge more than a mile inside the cave without proper food, water, sanitation or sunlight, until they were discovered by a pair of British divers on 2 July.
The jubilant rescue chief announced that the families of the five who came out of the cave today would be able to visit their loved ones this evening – a reversal on the previous two batches of four to emerge, who had to wait 24 hours to see theirs.
Gobchai Boon-orrana, the deputy director of Thailand’s department of disaster prevention and mitigation, was equally elated in addressing the crowd.
One of the lead hands on the mission, Mr Gobchai referred to those rescued as his “13 grandsons.”
He joked that Thailand now had a new internationally famous tourist attraction, following wall-to-wall coverage of the cave rescue right around the globe.
Finally, he paid tribute to Saman Gunan, the 38-year-old Navy Seal who lost his life in the caves leading up the eventual rescue, declaring him a hero of the Thai people and the world.
“May he rest in peace – the hero of Thung Luam,” Mr Gobchai said.
Jedsada Chokdumrongsuk, permanent secretary at the Public Health Ministry, said that recovery for the children is being carefully managed
"The kids are footballers so they have high immune systems," Mr Jedsada said. "Everyone is in high spirits and are happy to get out. But we will have a psychiatrist to evaluate them."
It could be at least seven days before they can be released from hospital, Mr Jesada told a news conference.
Mr Jedsada said they were uncertain what type of infections the boys could face "because we have never experienced this kind of issue from a deep cave."
A tenth person has now been rescued from the flooded Thai cave complex, according to the Reuters news agency.
Their witness has seen a second person being carried out of the cave on a stretcher.
Officials have not confirmed the new rescues to The Independent - the authorities tend to wait until several hours after the mission is complete before giving a briefing to confirm what has happened.
There are now reports that an eleventh person has been brought out of the caves on a stretcher. If confirmed, that means just two members of the team are still in the cave system.
Earlier, there was some suggestion that the three people brought out of the cave today were being treated at a field hospital on site rather than taken immediately to the main hospital in Chiang Rai city.
Those reports now appear unfounded - journalists on the scene are saying they have seen helicopters leaving the site and, if today is running like Sunday and Monday, they will be carrying away the rescued footballers.
The AFP news agency is quoting sources in the Navy, which is leading the operation, as saying 11 people are confirmed as being rescued.
Three ambulances with lights flashing have just been spotted leaving the cave site, according to the AP news agency. That could well tally with the apparent confirmation we have from Thai Navy sources that the 9th, 10th and 11th people have been rescued from the cave. The different speeds with which sightings at the cave site are being reported makes it difficult to tally with the helicopter we mentioned a little earlier, though.
We are seeing reports from some quarters that the 12th boy and the team coach have left the cave, meaning the mission to rescue the footballers is complete. That has not been confirmed to us by the Thai Navy SEALs or reported by witnesses at the scene, so we aren't reporting that yet.
Reuters are reporting that a 12th person has been stretchered from the caves. A reminder that the mission is to save 13, including the coach, who we suspect may come out last.
Breaking: Thai Navy SEALs confirm all boys and their coach have been rescued.
The Navy SEALS also confirm that the team of four divers who have been assisting the boys for the past week - three SEALs and a doctor - are still on their way out of the cave.
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