The incredible moment a Thai football team and their coach were found in a cave system, after being missing for nine days, has been recorded.
A group of young boys and their 25-year-old coach have been found alive after going missing in caves in Thailand over a week ago.
The caves were flooded due to relentless rain in the area, making the search for the group extremely difficult.
Yesterday (July 2), the boys and their coach were found alive in an elevated dry section of the cave by Thai Navy SEAL divers, and the amazing moment was caught on camera.
Watch it here:
The video shows the boys gathered together in the dark cave. One of the rescuers asks ‘how many of you?’, to which one of the group reply ’13’. All 12 boys and their coach, thankfully, were accounted for.
The rescuer replies ‘brilliant’, before going on to explain many more people are coming. He then tells the boys they’ve been in the cave for 10 days, and tells them they’re very strong.
The boys were reportedly extremely thin, but otherwise mostly unharmed. Two of the boys had ‘light injuries’, and they were all given paracetamol and energy gels.
Although the group have been found, the amount of water flooding the caves means they can’t be taken out yet.
The rescue teams have been pumping 10,000 litres of water out of the caves every hour, but the system is so huge, this has only lowered the water level by one centimetre.
Families of the missing children gathered outside the caves, where the government set up a makeshift tent camp for them to wait for news.
Now the group have been found, a telephone cable is set to be installed so the boys can speak to their parents.
Terrifyingly, the group may be looking at four more months in the cave, while the water drains and monsoon season in Thailand passes.
Thai Navy Captain Anand Surawan spoke about the measures they’ll take to ensure the safety of the boys:
We will prepare to send additional food to be sustained for at least four months and train all 13 to dive while continuing to drain the water.
The team are in a race against time to find a way to help the boys, as heavy rain is expected again in the area in the next few days.
A Belgian diver, who’s part of the rescue team spoke to BBC Newsnight yesterday about the issue, explaining:
Time is not on our side – we’re expecting heavy rain in three days. If the cave system (floods) it would make access impossible to the kids.
Edd Sorenson, of International Cave Rescue and Recovery, also spoke to the BBC about the challenges of getting the boys out of the cave.
While giving the boys SCUBA gear could potentially be a way to get them out of the caves, Sorenson advised against it, saying:
Having somebody in zero visibility that’s not familiar with … that kind of extreme conditions, it’s real easy and very likely that they would panic, and either kill themselves and or the rescuers.
So at this point, you know, I think they would be better off bringing in food, water, filtration systems, oxygen if the air space needs it and requires it, and at least they have lights and hope now, so I think waiting it out, as long as they can get supplies in there to make them comfortable and warm and fed and hydrated.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.