By Arnaud Dubus
MAE SAI, Thailand (AA) – Rescue teams in northern Thailand on Monday brought out four more children from a group trapped inside a flooded subterranean cave since last month, leaving four boys and their coach still in the cave depths.
In a seven-hour operation, Thai and foreign rescuers brought out the boys in the second phase of a massive rescue to save the remaining children and their football coach.
Earlier on Sunday four children were evacuated from Tham Luang cave, where they have been trapped since June 23, and are being examined by doctors in a provincial hospital.
Rescuers confirmed that four more children had been saved on Monday. Ambulances were seen rushing towards military helicopters not far from the press center, where hundreds of local and international journalists are gathered around one kilometer from the cave entrance.
Authorities have not yet published the names of any of the rescued children.
A few hours earlier, Narongsak Osothanakorn, the governor of Chiang Rai province, where the cave is located, sounded an optimistic note.
“When everything is taken into account, including a forecast of possible rain, the water level, and the physical health of those involved, the operation was advanced by four or five hours,” he told reporters.
“We hope for good news in the next few hours.”
A team of 13 top-level foreign divers and five Thai navy seals spent 11 hours in the cave on Sunday to extract the first four children. Normally they have a 20-hour break before a second dive in order to prevent accidents. On Friday morning, a 38-year-old Thai rescue diver and former navy seal died after losing consciousness while diving in the cave to help the rescue operation.
It is likely that the four remaining children and their coach, 25, will not be rescued Monday night as the divers cannot take more than five people out at a time.
According to rescuers, the weakest members of the trapped group, including coach Ekapol Chanthawong, will be taken care of during the next phase of the operation, as they need to be strengthened by high-energy food and well prepared so as to prevent accidents.
The 12 children and their coach, members of a local football team called the Wild Boars, went into the cave for an excursion after practice on June 23.
After the start of monsoon rains, they had to go deeper into the 10-km-long cave to escape rising waters. They spent 10 days in a section two km from the cave entrance before being found by a team of British divers.
