1/24

June 23: After a morning practice, 12 members of the local football team 'Wild Boars' along with with their 25-year-old coach cycled to the Tham Luang Nang Non cave to explore. But they didn't return, neither could they be contacted. Their bicycles are found parked and locked at the cave entrance as a search begins around midnight. Photo: AP/Thai News Pix

June 24: Search and rescue teams comprising local authorities, police and rescue workers begin search operation at the cave. Heavy rains hamper the search operation. Photo: Getty Images

June 25: Thai navy SEALs join the search effort. As the search expands, handprints and footprints thought to belong to the boys are found farther from the cave entrance. Parents holding a vigil outside begin prayer sessions. Photo shows family members praying in front of a Buddhist statue near the cave. Photo: AP

June 26: Emergency rescue teams gather in the staging area before entering the cave. Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda told reporters they are seriously handicapped by muddy water that has filled some chambers of the large cave to their ceilings. Photo: AP

June 27: More heavy rainfall stymies search efforts, flooding underground passages faster than water can be pumped out. International experts, along with several other private teams, join the operation. Photo: AP

June 28: Efforts also begin to drain water from the cave by drilling from outside into the mountain. A search for other entrances to the cave intensifies as diving is temporarily suspended for safety reasons. Photo: Getty Images

June 29: Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha visits the cave site and urges relatives of the missing not to give up hope. Efforts to drain the cave with pumps make little progress. Photo: AP

June 30: The effort to locate the missing picks up pace again, as a break in the rain eases flooding in the system of caverns and more experts from around the world, including Australia and China, join the rescue mission. In anticipation of finding the boys, an evacuation drill is held to practice how they will be sent to a hospital after leaving the cave. Photo: Getty Images

July 1: Rescue divers advance into the main passageway inside the flooded cave and set up a staging area inside. Thai navy SEALs reach a bend where the kilometer-long passage splits in two directions. Photo: AP

July 2: In this handout photo released by Tham Luang Rescue Operation Center, rescue teams walk inside cave complex. Two expert British cave divers locate the missing boys and their coach. They record a video of the boys talking with them. Photo: AP

July 3: Photo shows rescuers discussing before entering the cave. Thai navy SEALs bring in food and medicine to trapped children. Videos are released and show the boys taking turns introducing themselves, and saying they are healthy. Photo: AP

July 4: A total of seven navy SEALs and a doctor are now in place to stay with the boys. Photo shows a Thai rescuer preparing a light for diving. Photo: AP

July 4: Options are discussed about whether the boys should be taken out of the cave with divers soon or kept in place until conditions improve. Photo: AP

July 5: The boys continue with diving lessons in case a decision is made to extract them through a route that is partially underwater. The effort to pump out water in increased. Picture shows rescuers arranging oxygen for the trapped football team. Photo: AP

July 5: Photo shows food being prepared for rescue personnel at a makeshift camp at Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park. Photo: Getty Images

July 6: A grab taken from video provided by the Thai Navy Seal shows the boys and their football coach inside the cave. Officials indicate that they favour extracting the boys as soon as possible, fearing further danger if they are forced to stay inside by more rain causing additional flooding. Photo: AP

July 6: Saman Gunan, a former navy SEAL aiding the rescue effort, dies from a lack of oxygen, raising concern about falling oxygen levels inside the cave. Photo: AP

July 7: Thai soldiers try to connect water pipes that will help bypass water from entering the cave. Officials suggest that an underwater evacuation will be made in the following few days because of predictions of a rainstorm. However, they say the boys’ diving skills are not yet where they need to be. Photo: AP

July 7: Letters that the boys and their coach wrote to the boys’ parents are made public. Tun, a trapped boy, writes: "Mom and Dad, please don't worry, I am fine. I've told P'Yod to get ready to take me out for fried chicken. With love." The coach Aek writes: "To the parents of all the kids, right now the kids are all fine, the crew are taking good care. I promise I will care for the kids as best as possible. I want to say thanks for all the support and I want to apologize to the parents." Photo: AP

July 8: The official heading the rescue operation declares that “D-Day” has arrived as he announces the start of the operation to bring the boys and their coach out of the cave. Divers take four of the boys out through tight passages and flooded caverns. Photo: AP

July 8: Photo shows onlookers being asked to leave the cave site and surrounding roads as the rescue operation begins to evacuate the trapped football team. Photo: Getty Images

July 9: A Thai well wisher puts a poster to pray for boys and their coach in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand. Divers take four more boys to safety during the second day of the rescue operation. This leaves four boys and their coach still inside the cave. Photo: AP

July 10: Divers bring out the remaining four boys and their coach, ending an ordeal that lasted more than two weeks. The boys are airlifted using helicopters. Photo: AP