Thai cave rescue: Envoy thanks India for offering help

Bangkok [Thailand], July 03 (ANI): Thai Ambassador to India, Chutintorn Gongsakdi, has thanked Delhi for offering its "technical expertise" to Bangkok in the ongoing rescue and evacuation of 12 Thai boys and their football coach, who were found alive in a flooded Thai cave on Monday.

"Thank you Ambassador Bishnoi. Thank you India," tweeted Ambassador Gongsakdi on Monday.

Bhagwant Singh Bishnoi is India's Ambassador to Thailand.

On July 2, the Embassy of India in Bangkok wrote to Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, conveying readiness to offer technical expertise in the rescue of 12 young footballers and their coach in a flooded cave in northern Thailand's Chiang Rai city.

"The Embassy further has the honour to convey that India would be ready to offer technical expertise in the ongoing rescue efforts of the aforesaid young footballers and their coach, through an Indian company M/s Kirloskar Brothers Limited, which has its subsidiary in Thailand," the Embassy of India in Bangkok wrote to Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to the statement, the said company has worked with the Royal Government of Thailand in projects such as Bangkok Metropolitan Administration-Khlong Bang Sue Drainage Project, and Vertical Mixed Flow for flood water and raw water transfer with Department of Water Resources- Bung Boraphet.

The company was also involved in pumping out water during the floods in Bangkok in 2011.

The rescue operations are underway for the footballers who were found by British divers, with footage showing them visibly weak and huddled on a mud mound deep inside the cave.

They had been trapped in a flooded Thai cave here for nine days.

The boys will be given diving lessons to facilitate their rescue, according to the country's army.

The stranded footballers will be taught how to dive as waiting for the water to recede may delay their evacuation by weeks.

Medical teams will continue to monitor the boys' health even as they remain trapped inside the cave.

The governor of the Chiang Rai province, Narongsak Osottanakorn, spoke to reporters late on Monday, confirming the safety of the boys and their coach.

He stated that the rescue team found the Pattaya Beach flooded. Nerly 300 to 400 meters ahead, they located the group.

However, Governor Osottanakorn stated that the mission was not over yet and that extraction of the boys would be a difficult process.

"We will drain all water out from the cave then we will take all 13 people out of the cave. We are now planning how to send (a) nurse and doctor inside the cave to check their health and movement. We will work all night," Osottanakorn said.(ANI)

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