Thailand Cave Search: Divers Make Progress but Time Running Out For Missing Children

Thai Navy SEAL divers have managed to go in deeper into flooded caves of Tham Luang Nang Non in Thailand, where a boys' football team and their coach have been missing for more than a week. Some progress has been made since the rains cleared on Friday, but there is still no sign of them.

The boys, who range in age from 11 to 16 years old and a part of the same soccer team, have been missing for nine days. A park officer had sounded the alarm after spotting the boys' bicycles near the entrance to the cave complex.

The cave labyrinth is popular with tourists for the first kilometer or so inside the cavernous entrance with limestone rock formations but there have been previous instances of foreign tourists getting stuck inside due to flash flooding.

More than 1,000 rescuers from several countries - Australia, UK, Japan, Laos, China, Myanmar and U.S. - have joined the search. On Friday a team of six Chinese experts arrived at the site in Chiang Rai province, according to the Chinese Embassy in Thailand. The experts hail from the Beijing Peaceland Foundation, an organization with more than 100 rescue teams and experience carrying out similar operations in mountainous Myanmar and Nepal. On Saturday Australia also deployed a team of six experts from its national police's Specialist Response Group, according to the country's Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop. The group, which typically carries out land search and rescue operations, also has experience diving in flooded caves.

For now, divers continue to work at the mouth of the cave, and drilling is underway at several points in the cave complex, primarily to relieve the flooding.

Divers are now closing in on elevated dry area, called Pattaya Beach, where they believe the missing boys may have taken refuge in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex. The dry area is several kilometers from the entrance of the cave. Heavy rains had previously hampered the rescue operation, as the caves become filled with water and even elevated areas are extremely dark and muddy.

Flood waters from the cave has receded in recent days, allowing rescue teams to go in for deeper exploration, according to Chiang Rai provincial governor Narongsak Osatanakorn. Oxygen tanks have been installed at 25-meter junctures for divers to use, and a water pumping machine has also being deployed, added Osatanakorn.

Families and friends have been holding a constant vigil outside the cave entrance and praying for the return of their children.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 02, 2018 11:41 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).