12 kids and their coach recovered from the cave.
All 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped for more than two weeks deep inside a flood Thai cave have been rescued, a Thai navy SEAL unit said on Tuesday, a successful end to a perilous mission that has gripped the world.
"The 12 Wild Boars and coach have emerged from the cave and they are safe," the Thai navy SEAL unit said on its official Facebook page. The "Wild Boars" soccer team and their coach got trapped on June 23 while exploring the cave complex in the northern province of Chiang Rai after soccer practice and a rainy season downpour flooded the tunnels. British divers found the 13, hungry and huddled in darkness on a muddy bank in a partly flooded chamber several kilometres inside the complex, on Monday last week.
After pondering for days how to get the 13 out, a rescue operation was launched on Sunday when four of the boys were brought out, tethered to rescue divers. Another four were rescued on Monday and the last four boys and the coach were brought out on Tuesday. Celebrations will be tinged with sadness over the loss of a former Thai navy diver who died last Friday while on a re-supply mission inside the cave in support of the rescue.
The head of the rescue operation, Narongsak Osottanakorn, said earlier on Tuesday the final stage would be "more challenging" because five people would be brought out, not four as on previous days, along with three Navy SEALs who have been staying with the boys since they were found. Nevertheless, he said the rescuers were gaining experience every day
TRANQUILLIZERS AND QUARANTINE
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who visited the cave on Monday, said the boys had been given tranquillizers to stop them getting stressed on the way out of the cave, but he dismissed any suggestion they had been "sedated". "If they were sedated, how would they come out?" he asked reporters.
The eight boys brought out on Sunday and Monday were in good health overall and some asked for chocolate bread for breakfast, officials said.Two of the boys had suspected lung infections but the four boys from the first group rescued were all walking around in hospital. Authorities have not confirmed the identity of the rescued boys and some of their parents said they had not been told who had been brought out they were not allowed to visit the hospital where the boys were taken.
Narongsak said the rescued boys had not been identified out of respect for the families whose sons were still trapped. The boys were still being quarantined from their parents because of the risk of infection and would likely be kept in hospital for a week to undergo tests, officials said earlier on Tuesday. Technology billionaire Elon Musk went into the cave on Monday and left the rescue team with a "kid-sized" submarine his company SpaceX had built, Thailand's interior Minister Anupong Paochinda said. Musk said on Twitter: "Just returned from Cave 3. Mini-sub is ready if needed. It is made of rocket parts & named Wild Boar after kids' soccer team. Leaving here in case it may be useful in the future."
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 "Onlookers wave as an ambulance carrying rescued schoolboys leaves a military airport in Chiang Rai, Thailand")
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