Bangkok, July 11: The Thailand government has thanked India, citizens of India and Pune-based Kirloskar Brothers' Limited's (KBL) for the well-wishing for the safety of the tweleve boys and their coach who had been missing in Tham Luang Cave. All the 12 boys and their football coach were rescued from a flooded cave in northern Thailand on Tuesday after being trapped for 18 days.

The foreign affairs ministry of Thailand wrote a letter to the extrnal affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and expressed its gratitude for India's support. "The generosity offered by India's public and private sector reflected, indeed, the close and cordial ties and friendship between our two countries and people," the Thai ministry said in the letter.

The letter mentioned the assistance provided by Kirloskar Brothers' Limited's (KBL), a pump manufacturing company, in the rescue operation of the boys and their coach. Prasad Kulkarni from Sangli district and engineer Shyam Shukla from Pune, the two members of the Kirloskar company, helped in the de-watering of the flooded caves.

The 12 boys, aged between 11 and 16 years, and their coach, 25, went into the cave after a soccer training, but a heavy rainstorm flooded the cave and blocked their way out, trapping them inside. The mother of one of boys gave the alert after realizing that her son had not returned home. It was only nine days later that all of the soccer team was found four km away from the cave's main entrance. (With IANS inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 11, 2018 08:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).