‘Don’t Worry About Us’ Write Trapped Thai Football Team in First Letters from Cave! Read Heart-Melting Messages From Boys to Their Families
The letters delivered from deep underground in blue pen reflect the boys’ longing to reunite with families and resume the normal life they enjoyed before early monsoonal downpours trapped them inside the flooded Tham Luang cave.
A group of 12 boys and their football coach had been trapped in a cave in Thailand. After intensive search rescue programme, Thai NavySEAL found the group and carried out the rescue. In the process, one of the divers died due to lack of oxygen. The children are in good health and they have sent their first letters home. The Thai NavySEAL Facebook page published photos of seven hand-written letters. The Facebook page said the assistant coach, Ekkapol Chanthawong and the boys gave the letters to a team of foreign divers at night on Friday.
Players from the ‘Wild Boar’ football team wrote shorts notes in the gloom, reassuring parents and relatives, making affectionate jokes and expressing hopes of being reunited soon. The first page of the paper was about communication, apparently written by the coach. It reads: “What we want to communicate: The kids say don’t be worried about them. All of them are strong. They would like to eat many different kinds of foods when they come out. Teachers, please do not give them too much homework. The SEALs and doctor Phak who are taking care of the children are also well.”
Letters from Trapped Thai Footballers from the Cave
“Mum and dad don’t worry that I am missing for two weeks. I will help you at the shop soon,” writes Akekara ‘Bill’ Woongsookjan in one of the short notes. In another, Duangpetch ‘Dom’ Phromthep, 13, writes: “I’m fine but it’s a little bit cold. Don’t worry and don’t forget my birthday.” Two other boys have already marked their birthdays underground and one of the boy’s family has kept his birthday cake in the fridge ever since, hoping for a miracle.
The group’s youngest member, 11-year-old Chanin ‘Tun’ Wiboonrungrueng tell his parents: “Don’t worry, I’m fine. Tell Yord, prepare to bring me fried chicken to eat”, while it’s oldest coach Akekapol ‘Ake’ Chantawong assures his grandmother and aunt he is fine. The letters delivered from deep underground in blue pen reflect the boys’ longing to reunite with families and resume the normal life they enjoyed before early monsoonal downpours trapped them 3.2km inside the flooded Tham Luang cave during a post-football excursion.
As the group of 13 enters its third week underground, rescuers are still struggling to reduce the risks of extracting the boys by frantically pumping millions of litres of water from the cave and searching for alternative exits. Provincial governor Narongsak Osoththanakorn told reporters this morning that British divers were leading the rescue in the last critical stretch ahead of predicted monsoon rains which pose the biggest risk to the safety of the 12 boys and their coach.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 07, 2018 02:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).