Thai cave rescue: Football team to get diving lessons

Chiang Rai [Thailand], July 03 (ANI): The 12 boys and their football coach, found alive in a flooded Thai cave, 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 rescue operations by weeks.

The children will be supplied with food that could last at least four months, several media reports quoted the Thai army, as saying.

Medical teams will continue to monitor the boys' health while they are trapped inside the cave.

The boys were found late Monday by British divers, with footage showing them as 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 governor of the Chiang Rai province, Narongsak Osottanakorn, spoke to reporters on Monday night, confirming the safety of the boys and their coach.

He stated that the rescue team found the Pattaya Beach to be flooded. 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. He also mentioned that a medical team was needed to assess their health.

"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