Rescuers in Thailand have begun the process of removing the 12 boys and their soccer coach who have been trapped in a cave for two weeks, according to the Chiang Rai governor.
Authorities said at a press conference Sunday morning in Chiang Rai province that they made the decision to remove the boys as oxygen drops and the threat of monsoon rains approaches. Due to the length of the journey out of the cave, officials said the first boy was expected to come out at 9 p.m. local time, or 10 a.m. Sunday Eastern time. The officials said the operation will likely last for some time.
At 10 a.m. local time, 13 divers and five SEALs entered the cave to begin the operation. Divers will escort the kids out of the cave.
“They insist they are ready to come out,” former provincial Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said Sunday of the rescue team. “Family has already been notified.”
Water levels were down 30 percent, an official said at the press conference.
The officials also said they had ruled out the potential for drilling into the cave from above.
Seasonal monsoon rains forecast to hit the region this weekend and throughout next week have yet to occur, and efforts on the ground to remove floodwater and divert water flows have been “very successful,” Osatanakorn said Saturday. Rescuers can now walk, rather than swim or dive, from the cave’s main entrance to an inner chamber serving as a command center.
“We are very happy with the water situation here,” he said. “The perfect situation would be to have zero water, which is impossible. The water level would be zero during December or January, so this situation is absolutely impossible. The next best situation would be if the water level is as low as possible to move the kids.”
Despite the progress with diverting water, Narongsak said on Saturday that rescuers are struggling to maintain safe oxygen levels inside the cave.
The inner chamber where rescuers have set up a “forward operating base” now has low oxygen levels due to the amount of people inside. They have tried pumping “pure air” through a tube into the chamber, but have also had to pull back nonessential personnel in an effort to preserve oxygen, according to Narongsak.
