After being trapped in the Tham Luang cave for 17 days, the Thailand football coach and the 12 members were rescued on July 10, in the afternoon, bringing an end to the seemingly impossible mission.
The Thai Navy SEAL operative along with foreign divers, rescued the last batch of four boys along with the coach from the flooded cave through a dangerous route of tunnels filled with water. Earlier, on July 8 and 9, a batch of nine boys had been rescued.
“All 12 ‘Wild Boars’ and coach have been extracted from the cave,” the SEAL stated, in a Facebook post. “All are safe.”
Narongsak Osottanakorn, chief of the rescue mission said that the medic and the SEAL divers had also left the cave safely.
The team had earlier entered the cave in mountainous northern Thailand on June 23 after a football practice but had gotten trapped deep inside after heavy rains had caused flooding. They were found 9 days later by two British divers.
Concerns have now arose regarding the psychological and physical effects of having been trapped in the presence of bird and bat droppings, contaminated water and an overall lack of oxygen. Initial medical reports show that the 9 boys rescued earlier are in a good mental and physical condition, yet they will remain in quarantine following further reports and examinations.
“I cannot understand how cool these small kids are, you know? Thinking about how they’ve been kept in a small cave for two weeks, they haven’t seen their mums,” Ivan Karadzic, who owns a diving business in Thailand and was involved in the rescue mission, told the BBC. “Incredibly strong kids. Unbelievable almost.”
