Rescuers say that it may take a them a while before they can rescue a boys soccer team that has been trapped in a cave in Thailand. The team had been missing for nine days, prompting an international response, before they were found Monday.
On June 23, 12 members of a boys soccer team, ages 11 to 16, and their soccer coach entered the Tham Luang Nang Non cave system in northern Thailand and disappeared.
On Monday, British cave divers, who had joined the rescue effort, reached the trapped team and found that, defying the odds, all 13 of them were still alive.
Unfortunately, the tunnels leading to the cave where the team is trapped have flooded, making any sort of a rescue very difficult. The boys were found on an incline 1.24 miles inside the cave system and at least half a mile beneath the surface.
"We are going today?" one of the boys asked the British rescuers on a tape released by the Thai Navy.
"Not today," one of the divers responds, trying to reassure the boy. "Not today. It's two of us. You have to tell them. We are coming. Many people are coming. We are the first."
"We are hungry," the boys told the divers. "We haven't eaten in [in Thai]. We have to eat, eat, eat."
The boys have since been given food that is "easy to digest and provides high energy," according to Thai Navy Seal Chief Rear Adm. Aphakorn Yoo-kongkaew.
Capt. Akanand Surawan with the Royal Thai Navy said that the team had been given four months' worth of food, and the boys are reportedly being taught how to dive.
The governor of the local region confirmed to reporters that all 13 were safe.
Rescue teams are working to drain all the water out of the caves, but that will take some time. In the meantime, air will also be pumped into the cave. A doctor, a nurse, and seven Thai Navy Seals have made their way to where the team is and are caring for them.
Yoo-kongkaew said that he was more concerned with getting the boys out safely than quickly.
"We don't have to rush. We are trying to take care of them and make them strong. Then the boys will come out to see you guys," he told reporters Tuesday.
However, British Cave Rescue Council Vice Chairman Bill Whitehouse noted that there was also a limit to how long rescuers could wait before they had to move the team.
"We believe that there is only a short break in the monsoon and all feasible options for the rescue of the boys are being considered," he said in a statement reported by CNN.
