Officials believe 12 boys and coach who disappeared two days ago are still alive

Rising waters have forced rescuers to suspend the search for 12 boys and their football coach missing for two days in a flooded cave complex in northern Thailand, but officials have said they believe they are still alive.

The boys, aged 11-15, are believed to have entered the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai province with their 25-year-old coach late on Saturday afternoon. A mother reported that her son did not return from football practice that day, prompting the search.

The rising waters frustrated efforts on Monday by the rescuers, including navy Seal divers, to move farther into the cave complex, which is thought to be about four to five miles (6-8km) long and contain large chambers. On Monday evening, officials made the call to temporarily pull out.

“We went in a few kilometers and were able to enter a second chamber behind the entrance. In that chamber, there was an area where I saw shoes and bags left behind on the ground. We believe the students have gone further in,” said Lt Naponwath Homsai, a Seal team member.

He said they would wait for water pumps to be brought in and that would hopefully help them access another passageway.

Bicycles, backpacks and football kit the boys left behind remained at the entrance of the cave. The area was filled with soldiers and rescue personnel.

Mothers and other relatives of the missing boys held a prayer session on Monday evening at the entrance to the cave, where there is a shrine with a statue of the Buddha. They laid flowers and some went inside, where their cries could be heard echoing off the walls.

“My son, come on out! I am waiting for you here!” one woman cried. Another kneeled down near the bicycles and prayed, asking “Where is my child?”

Namhom Boonpiam, whose 13-year-old son, Mongkol, is among the missing, said she had been waiting at the entrance since Saturday night.

“I haven’t slept and I hope that all of them can come out, all safe and sound,” she said. “My son is a strong boy. I still have hope.”

Officials remained optimistic the boys would be found safe.

Chote Narin, an officer at Mae Sai district police station, said on Monday afternoon that footprints and handprints were found inside the cave complex. He said the fact that the boys were athletes should help them endure the situation.

Despite heavy rain and rising waters, officials were hopeful there were still safe spaces in the cave complex, the deputy governor of Chiang Rai province, Passakorn Bunyalak, told a news conference.

“We’re confident that the kids should still be in good condition,” he said, noting that rescuers had seen nothing inside the cave to indicate otherwise.

Getting deeper into the cave has required oxygen and special diving skills, which would also complicate rescue efforts once the boys were found, Passakorn said. He said divers might have to first bring food in and the boys might need to wait out the flood or learn the basics of scuba to get out.

Officials said parts of the cave were flooded under at least five metres (16ft) of water.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The entrance to the cave, which is thought to be about four to five miles long. Photograph: Thai News Pix/AP

The cave, cut into a mountainside in far northern Thailand near the border with Myanmar, is a local tourist attraction but can flood during the rainy season, which runs from June to October.

Kamolchai Kotcha, an official at the forest park where the cave is located, said on Monday morning that attempts to reach a large chamber about two-and-a-half miles (4km) from the entrance of the cave had failed as the passage is extremely small, “flooded and covered with sand and mud”.

According to Kamolchai, tourists trapped in the cave by past floods have been rescued after the water receded a few days later.

In The Caves of Northern Thailand, an online guidebook last updated this year, the cave is described as explorable only from November to June due to flooding. It says it has an “impressive entrance chamber” about 80 metres (260ft) long and leads to an easy walk along “spacious passageways” that last for about half a mile (1km).

“At the end of the marked path the passage enters a series of chambers, boulder collapses and boulder chokes where route finding can be difficult,” it says.

After a few hundred metres, the cave narrows to a passage two metres (6.5ft wide and three metres (10ft) high, it says. After that, the cave splits off into different directions, including several that lead to other chambers, pools of water or places with high “avens”, shafts that reach the surface.

Chote, of the Mae Sai police, said a helicopter was sent on Monday afternoon to survey at least one of those shafts.

Anukoon Sorn-ek, a geographer and expert on the Tham Luang Nang Non cave, said divers have made it about 1.8 miles (3km) into the complex. He said the cave maintains a relatively stable temperature of about 25C (77F).

He said the only way to get the boys out would be for them to dive. “But they have to be found first,” he added.



