Rescuers were poised late Monday for the next day’s push in the painstaking, dangerous mission to free the young soccer players still trapped in a flooded cave in northern Thailand, 17 nights after their group went missing.
The mission to extract the 12 Thai boys and their coach accelerated Monday, with four more brought to safety in the second day of rescue efforts. The boys are being led out one at a time, each with two divers from an international team of 18, through winding, narrow passageways filled with murky water.
The rescue operation has to be paused between missions so the divers can replace compressed-air tanks and guide ropes. The first four boys were taken out of the cave Sunday, all of them whisked quickly away by ambulance and helicopter to the closest regional hospital. “2 days, 8 wild boars,” said the Thai Navy SEAL team in a post on its official Facebook page, referring to the name of the soccer team.
Officials said that Monday’s undertaking, which took about nine hours and involved 100 other rescuers inside the cave in addition to the divers, went even more smoothly than the previous day’s. “We’re more confident today. We worked faster. I’m so happy,” said mission chief Narongsak Osatanakorn. The second group of boys rescued, he said, were healthier than the first.
Narongsak said that the plan is “designed for rescuing four at a time.” He said he was not sure whether preparations could be adjusted to bring out the last five in quick succession Tuesday – raising the possibility that one would be left there by himself, enduring a grueling wait while rescue efforts restart.