Four more boys of the Wild Boar soccer team have been rescued from a cave in Thailand after being trapped for more than two weeks.
On Monday, rescue teams working to free a youth soccer team and their coach from the flooded Tham Luang Nang Non cave system successfully guided four more boys from the caverns and to safety, according to CNN. The successful mission leaves four more boys and their 25-year-old coach trapped inside of the cave, with more rescue operations planned for the coming days.
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The second operation, consisting of many of the same divers, Thai Navy SEALs and other experts that rescued the first four boys on Sunday, began at 11 a.m. local time, according to former Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osotthanakorn. The first boy emerged from the cave on a stretcher at 4:30 p.m. local time, followed by two more boys shortly after, and then a fourth.
All four boys were treated at an onsite medical facility before being transported to a hospital in Chiang Rai, where the first four boys rescued are also being treated. It is said that all the boys have been quarantined and have not yet been reunited with their families, although a relative of one of the boys said the families have chosen to remain at the cave until every boy has been brought to safety.
Efforts to bring the team to safety began Sunday after conditions were deemed optimal and a forecast of heavy rain threatened to further flood the cave system.
“Today is D-day,” Narongsak Osotthanakorn said.
The rescue process is treacherous, with the cave system being described as challenging for even the most experienced cave divers. Former Thai Navy SEAL Petty Officer 2nd Class Saman Kunan, 38, died within the tunnels while placing oxygen tanks deep within the cave to make the rescue mission possible.
To extract the boys, who are located more than two miles within the Tham Luang Nang Non cave, rescuers taught them how to swim and dive and fitted each boy with full-face masks. The boys have then been led through the cave system one by one in a buddy system, which consists of two expert divers helping each boy. It is estimated to take nine hours for SEALs and other experts to go between the entrance and the small perch of dryland where the boys were found.
It is believed that the rescue operations will pick up within another 10 to 20 hours, allowing rescuers time to rest and for more oxygen tanks to be placed along the rescue route.
