Industry News
***UPDATE – 5:35 am PST 9th July:
Thai officials are not confirming this morning’s reported rescues as they happen, but eyewitnesses have told media at the scene that four boys have so far been brought out on Monday, taking the total number of rescues up to eight.
Reports earlier on Monday said a group had been brought up to a staging area inside the cave, waiting to be brought out one by one to ambulances.
***UPDATE – 5 am PST 9th July:
A fifth person was rescued from the cave network and taken to the hospital on Monday evening, and a sixth person was being prepared for evacuation to the hospital, local sources said.
Earlier, the head of the search operation, Narongsak Osottanakorn, said that a new extraction run to rescue the 12 members of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach had begun and that the pace would be faster today than on Sunday.
“I hope in a few hours we will have good news,” Mr. Narongsak said in the afternoon.
***UPDATE – 7:30am PST 8th July:
It’s now being reported by Narongsak Osottanakorn, who is head of the joint command center coordinating the search, via BBC correspondent Jonathan Head that 4 not 6 boys have been rescued from the cave in northern Thailand. The remaining 8 boys and their coach remain trapped in the cave. It may take at least one more day to rescue the remaining 9 in the cave.
“Operation leader Narongsak says 4 boys are out, the remaining 9 incl coach still at their original location. Could take another day to get them out.” — Jonathan Head (@pakhead) July 8, 2018
ORIGINAL ARTICLE – 7:00AM PST 8th July:
The BBC, India Express, The Telegraph, and local media are reporting that 6 of the Thai boys trapped in a cave for 2 weeks have been rescued to safety.
It’s being reported that the boys had to travel over 1km (.62 miles) underwater.
6 more boys and their coach remain 2.5 miles deep in the cave. The boys are aged 11-16 and their coach is 25 years old.
The boys and their coach ventured into the cave while it was dry, but were trapped by a sudden deluge of rainfall.
The weakest boys were rescued first.
The rescue mission for the other 9 trapped people will begin in 10-20 hours.
“It’ll be difficult to tell exactly when the next [evacuation] will start. But I guess it will be ready in the next 10-20 hours.” – Narongsak Osottanakorn, head of the joint command center coordinating the search
It’s been reported by Narongsak Osottanakorn, who is head of the joint command center coordinating the search, that the rescued boys are in “perfect” health.
BBC also reports that they can’t independently verify that 6 boys have been resuced.
“Multiple sources are now saying six people have been rescued so far, as reported by local media, along with the AFP and Reuters news agencies.
The BBC has been unable to independently verify the number.” – BBC
12 Thai boys and their soccer coach have been trapped by monsoon floods in a large cave in northern Thailand for 2 weeks.
The rescue effort to save these boys began on Sunday at 10am local time.
This rescue mission is a race against time as big monsoonal rains are forecasted in the coming days that could further raise water levels in the cave.
Two divers are to be with each boy during the rescue operation. Ropes will guide the divers.
It’s being reported that 50 foreign divers and 40 Thai divers are involved in this cave rescue operation.
A former Thai Navy SEAL died while attempting to bring the boys oxygen this week. He reportedly ran out of oxygen while performing the long 1km underwater swim to the boys.
