What we know about the Thai cave rescue
Replay
Eight of the thirteen people trapped in a cave in northern Thailand have been freed after a meticulously planned rescue effort.
The second rescue attempt is believed to have started at 11am local time on Monday. Four more boys were brought out of the cave over the three hours from 4.30pm local time (7.30pm AEST).
It has now been 17 days since 12 boys and their football coach became trapped in the Tham Luang cave network when it flooded on June 23.
Here’s what we know so far.
Eight boys out
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- Four of the 12 boys trapped in the cave were rescued on Sunday, July 8.
- Four more boys were rescued on Monday night, July 9.
- The names of the first group are reportedly: Mongkol 'Mark' Boonpiam, 14, Prajak 'Note' Sutham, 14, Nattawut 'Tle' Takamsai, 14 and Pipat Bodhi, 15.
- Dr Thongchai Lertwilairattanapong, an inspector for Thailand’s health department, told Thai daily newspaper Kom Chad Lek, that the boys should be able to see close relatives but warned there must be no physical contact until the results of blood tests came back. The boys have only been allowed to see their relatives through glass.
- Doctors are checking to make sure the children are free from serious infections such as leptospirosis and meliodosis.
Replay
The second rescue
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- The second operation began at 11am local time (2pm AEST) on Monday, July 9.
- Over 100 staff were involved, including 18 divers and others to fill tanks and operate the ropes.
- There were fewer tropical showers than forecast on Monday and the heavy rains held off, keeping water levels stable.
- Four more boys were guided to freedom over three hours from about 4.30pm local time.
- They were taken to a field hospital for immediate assessment before they were taken by road and air to Chiang Rai hospital.
- The second group was in better shape than the first four boys rescued on Sunday.
- "Today we saved four more," rescue mission chief Narongsak Osotanakorn, the former governor of the Chiang Rai province, proudly declared late on Monday night.
What's next
- There are five people left in the cave. They are said to be in good health.
- The head of the operation says the optimum number of people to rescue is four: "We have still not confirmed that five will be out or not [on Tuesday]. The plan is set for four."
- Rescue crews are taking a 20-hour break to prepare for the next mission.
Planning the first rescue mission
- After the boys were found by two British divers on July 3, they were assessed as having light injuries and given energy gels and food to sustain them while rescuers on the ground started to plot the rescue effort.
- Rescuers planned to bring the boys out in groups of four.
- Divers began to teach the boys how to use diving masks on July 4, while authorities continued to pump water from the cave around the clock. Heavy rain was forecast for the week.
- Australian Defence personnel were among the scores of international experts brought in to assist, including a US military team, British cave experts and Chinese lifesaving responders.
- At 2am local time on July 6, former Thai navy SEAL Saman Gunan, 37, died while trying to set up an air line for the boys. He passed out from lack of oxygen while returning from the boys' chamber.
- Oxygen levels inside the cave started to drop and officials warned the window to rescue the boys was “limited”.
- Six Australian federal police divers and an Australian Navy diver began work with Chinese and American teams to take supplies to the third chamber in the cave, which is the launching point for the rescue. The same team of 13 international divers and five Thai Navy Seals would swim and dive their way to the boys, and attempt to bring them out to safety.
- On July 7, the head of the rescue mission said the boys were not yet ready to dive safely. The coach sent an apology to the parents, as handwritten notes written by the boys to their families were made public. The boys sounded calm and reassured parents they were coping.
- On the afternoon of July 7, water levels reached their lowest point as another 30cm was pumped out of the caves. But intermittent downpours started to lash the Mae Sai region, underscoring the urgency of the operation.
- “If we don’t start now, we will lose the chance,” the man in charge of the rescue effort Governor Narongsak Osottanakorn said.
- The decision was made to start the delicate mission of extracting the boys.
- The families of the 13 boys and the coach agreed to the attempted pull-out.
- Thirteen fully staffed medical teams were standing ready outside the cave, each with their own helicopter and ambulance, one for each boy and the coach.
The coach
- Ekapol Chanthawong, assistant coach of the Wild Boars soccer team that has been trapped in Tham Luang cave for 16 days now, is being credited with their survival.
- According to rescue officials, Ekapol who trained as a monk, is among the weakest in the group because he gave the boys his share of the limited food and water they had with them in the early days.
- He also taught the boys how to meditate and how to conserve as much energy as possible until they were found.
Some of the trapped boys praying in the cave in Tham Luang.
The first rescue
- On Sunday (July 8) at 10am local time (1pm AEST), five Thai Navy Seals and 13 foreign divers enter the cave. Eight are Australians.
- Australian doctor Richard Harris, who has specialist caving expertise, gives final medical approval for the operation to proceed after assessing the boys' health.
- Each child is tethered to two experienced divers to make the four-kilometre trip through winding, submerged pathways, tunnels and fast-flowing water.
- Almost eight hours later, two boys are rescued from the cave at about 5.40pm and 5.50pm local time. The third and fourth boys are rescued at 7.40pm and 7.50pm local time.
- A whole floor of the Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital has been sealed off just to treat the boys, according to reports, where the soccer team will be evaluated for infections and have their mental health checked.
Diving expert Richard Harris, an anaesthetist from Adelaide, undertook the dangerous dive through to the 12 Thai boys and their coach on Saturday, clearing the way for the rescue attempt on Sunday.
How they got there
- On June 23, 12 boys, aged between 11 and 16, and their 25-year-old coach Ekaphol "Ake" Chantawong from the Wild Boars soccer team were reported missing.
- They had gone in to explore the complex Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand, on the border of Myanmar, after soccer practice.
- A day later on June 24, handprints and footprints were found in the cave and it is believed the group had to retreat into the cave's tunnel system and were trapped by the flooding rain.
A pair of soccer boots lie next to bicycles from a group of missing boys at the entrance of a deep cave in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand.
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