Operation to rescue remaining Thai boys begins

Chiang Rai [Thailand], Jul 10 (ANI): The rescue operations have begun to retrieve the last five members of the Wild Boars soccer team, who are trapped in a vast cave in northern Thailand's Chiang Rai province.

Out of 13 team members, eight have been rescued so far from the Tham Luang cave, while five still remain trapped, CNN reported.

The mission is a battle against time and heavy rainfall prediction for the week, which is likely to flood tunnels once again, making the entire operation difficult to carry out.

A crack team of foreign divers and Thai Navy SEALS rescued four boys on Sunday and another four on Monday, who were stranded in the cave for more than two weeks.

"The four boys rescued from the cave in Thailand on Monday were wearing full-face diving masks while they were carried out of the cave to the makeshift hospital nearby," CNN quoted an eyewitness, who is part of the rescue operations stationed at the entrance of the cave, as saying.

According to media reports, a Thai health official said that the rescued boys will be hospitalised for at least seven days.

The reports quoted permanent secretary of the Thai public health ministry Jesada Chokedamrongsuk saying that the eight boys rescued are in good health, having no fever and are in a good mental state.

The footballers, aged between 11 and 16 years, were found by British divers on late Monday night, with footage showing them visibly weak and huddled on a mud mound deep inside the Tham Luang cave.

The party was strolling inside the cave, following which they were trapped for nine days, before being found. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI