Thai Navy Seals raced to train 12 young boys and their football coach how to scuba dive on Wednesday ahead of monsoon rains that could force an emergency evacuation.

They have been trapped in a vast cave complex for almost two weeks, and experts are currently assessing how they will get them out.

Rescue teams are reported to be contemplating a risky rapid extraction, possibly as soon as Thursday, before heavy rains set in, potentially causing further flooding through the already submerged chambers of the six-mile-long cave in Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai province.

High-pressure pumps worked furiously on Wednesday to drain water from the cave, while Navy Seals stayed with the boys to give them first aid, swimming and diving lessons, and to keep their spirits up.

In a video released on Wednesday, Thai Lt Colonel Dr Phak Lohanchun was applying disinfectant to minor wounds on emaciated boys wrapped in foil blankets inside the cave. “Show me your smile,” he says to one of the younger children, as some of the boys state their name and that they are in good health.