Thailand cave rescue: eight cave boys saved but no hugs yet

Rescuers have freed more than half of the boys trapped inside the flooded Tham Luang cave in an extraordinary evacuation effort.

Rescuers have freed more than half of the boys trapped inside the flooded Tham Luang cave complex in northern Thailand in an extraordinary evacuation effort that will likely be completed ­tonight.

The first of four young footballers rescued yesterday was lifted by stretcher out of the cave about 4.45pm (7.45pm AEST), less than six hours after divers walked into the cave for the second dramatic day of a rescue operation that is being followed around the world. The last one of the night emerged just before 7pm (10pm).

LIVE: Thai cave rescue continues

All four were evacuated to Chiang Rai hospital where the first four boys, rescued a day ­earlier, were spending their second night in quarantine.

The official in charge of the Tham Luang rescue effort has said it is not up to him whether all five of the young footballers still left in the flooded cave will come out today.

Eight of the 13 young footballers, including their 25-year-old coach, have now been rescued since Sunday evening: four on each day.

“(On Monday) we saved four more,” rescue command chief and outgoing Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osaththanakorn told reporters.

“We have prepared and know the plan for our next mission tomorrow and we will be 100 per cent successful.”

But when asked if all remaining five boys would be rescued tomorrow he said: “It is up to the diving team. Their plan is designed for rescuing four. For safety the best number is four.”

Mr Narongsak said Monday’s rescue — which began at 11am when the divers entered the cave and finished at 8pm when the last of four boys freed from the cave arrived at Chiang Rai hospital — had taken two hours less than Sunday’s mission.

“The team is getting used to the operation,” he said, adding the advanced preparation team also moved faster in refilling the air tanks and checking equipment for the next day’s rescue.

He said the four boys extracted Monday were in better condition than the four rescued Sunday.

Mr Narongsak spoke to the media after Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha visited the rescue site around 8.30pm to congratulate the 1000-strong rescue, which includes specialist divers from Australia, China, Britain, Denmark and the US.

Thai PM Prayut Chan-ocha with rescue workers. Picture: Supplied.

He praised General Prayuth praised the rescue effort but said he hoped it would serve as a lesson to all young people so that such an incident never happened again.

The prime minister then went on to the Chiang Rai hospital to speak to family members of the boys now quarantined there.

Also at the press conference was General Buncha Duriyathan, army commander of 37th army district, who thanked the media and all rescue workers for their efforts over the past few weeks, though saved his biggest thanks for the Hindu God of Rain, Pra Pirun.

“I asked God for rain for three days at a time,” he said, “because if I asked for more he might not grant it.”

Mr Narongsak confirmed yesterday that the boys, who were trapped in the cave by flash floods on June 23, had not yet seen their families but that authorities were considering allowing a no-­contact visit, as long as they remained behind glass.

Four boys and their coach ­remain trapped amid a race against time and water and were forced to spend another night ­inside the cave when the rescue mission was halted about 7pm local time.

Those rescued so far were said to be in “good health”.

Officials have refused so far to publicly release the names of the boys rescued, citing concerns for the families, including the effect on those whose sons had not yet been rescued, and have even kept the names from families still waiting anxiously outside the cave.

The Australian understands the first boy rescued from the cave on Sunday was 13-year-old Mongkol “Mark” Boonpiam, followed 10 minutes later by ­Prachak “Note” Sutham, 14.

There were further ­reports that the third and fourth boys were Nattawut “Tie” Takumsong, 14, and Pipat “Nick” Bodhi, who turned 15 on June 23, the day the 12-member football team and their coach were trapped by floods in the Tham Luang cave system.

In heart-rending letters exchanged a few days ago, the boys and their parents expressed their longing to see one another.

Police and military personnel use umbrellas to cover around a stretcher near a helicopter and an ambulance at a military airport in Chiang Rai. Picture: AFP

In a note to his mother written while still trapped, Mark wrote; “Mum, are you at home? How are you? Please tell my teacher that I am OK. I love you Mum.”

“Mother is waiting for you in front of the cave,” she wrote to her boy. “Miss you. I love you so much. Take care of yourself.”

But the families will likely have to wait a little longer before they can hold their boys in their arms.

Mr Narongsak said the first four boys were “all well” but were still in quarantine while they were given thorough medical assessments.

All 12 boys and their coach must undergo blood and urine tests, as well as lung X-rays, to make sure they have not contracted any ­serious infections inside the cave such as melioidosis or ­leptospirosis, a ­potentially fatal bacterial disease, he added.

“This morning they complained they were hungry and asked for khao pad krapow (chicken with rice),” he said. “The medical team is considering whether to let close relatives visit them. It could be a visit through transparent glass rooms. We are discussing this with doctors at the hospital.”

A senior Chiang Rai Health Department official earlier told Thai media the boys would be ­allowed to see their families within 24 hours of quarantine, but could have no physical contact until blood test results were known.

“Visitors will only be allowed to meet and talk to the patients. No hugging or touching and they need to leave a 1m to 2m distance from the patients until the blood tests come back,” Thongchai ­Lertwilairattanapong said.

Mr Narongsak confirmed the second phase of the dramatic ­extraction began at 11am (2pm AEST) yesterday. Extraction of the fifth and sixth boy was completed ahead of schedule.

“It’s perfect conditions like yesterday,” Mr Narongsak told media earlier in the day. “I expect in the next four to five hours we would have good news.”

Asked which of the remaining children and their coach would come out first, he replied: “The perfect one, the most ready one.”

How the boys were brought out.

The operation was paused on Sunday and last night as an exhausted team of 13 international divers and five Thai divers rested. The same team with a “few ­replacements” conducted the second rescue because they were most familiar with conditions inside the cave

Other rescuers spent the night and early morning checking equipment and refilling spare oxygen tanks before placing them at intervals along the 3.2km route to where the remaining boys and their 25-year-old coach were sheltering.

Despite persistent rain overnight on Sunday and some brief showers yesterday, an official from Thailand’s Forestry Department said the water level inside the cave had remained stable.

Millions of litres of water continue to be pumped from the cave, while hundreds of infantry scouts scour the mountain above for “chimney” holes that might offer an alternative exit point for the boys.

The extraction remains incredibly dangerous.

In total more than 90 divers, ­including from Australia, Britain, US, China and Thailand, are working on the rescue.

The 3.2km stretch from the sandy slope where the boys have been sheltering to the cave mouth ­requires a mix of diving, swimming, wading and walking.

The first 1700m is the most difficult. Each boy must scuba dive that stretch tethered to two professional divers — one in front and one behind — who must at times push and pull them through dark and narrow canyons, including one tunnel just 38cm high.