https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-begins-divers
Rescue operation to free boys stuck in Thailand cave 'could take days'
Operation started 10am local time and the soonest any boy will be freed is 9pm local time
• Thailand cave rescue: officials announce mission has begun - live
Michael Safi and Veena Thoopkrajae in Mae Sai

@safimichael
Sun 8 Jul 2018 14.14 AEST Last modified on Sun 8 Jul 2018 14.41 AEST

Eighteen divers have entered a northern Thailand cave in an attempt to retrieve 12 boys and their football coach who have been stranded in a cave for the past two weeks.

The rescue operation started around 10am local time and the soonest any boy would be freed was 9pm, said Narongsak Osatanakorn, the governor of Chiang Rai province. The boys would be removed gradually and accompanied by two divers each in an operation that could continue until at least Monday.

“Today we are most ready,” he told a press briefing. “Today is D-Day.”

The team includes 13 international divers and five Thai navy Seals. “We can say they are all international all-stars involved in this diving operation and we selected five of our best who can work with them,” Osatanakorn said.


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An Australian doctor with extensive cave diving experience went into the chamber on Sunday, examined the boys and approved them for the operation, authorities said.

The boys and their families had been informed. “Their health and their minds are ready and they all have knowledge of the mission,” he said. “They’re ready to go out.”

He said the 1.5km path from the cave entrance to the “third chamber” that has been a staging ground for the operation was not completely dry but mostly walkable. “Yesterday the water levels were the lowest they had been,” Osatanakorn said.

He would not say whether the boys would need to dive at all in the 1.7km journey from where they are sheltering to the third chamber, saying most of the route would be walkable.

He said water levels had dropped 30cm since Saturday and “we have reached peak readiness”. “The meaning of readiness is ... perfect weather, water and the kids readiness, physical and mental.”

The governor said the mission could take two days. “There’s no time limit for the operation,” he said.

“It depends on the weather. It depends on the water levels. If something changes we’ll stop. But I expect the operation to finish in the next couple of days.”

Authorities had said on Saturday they had a three- to four-day window the remove the boys before monsoon rain risked sealing them off until as late as January.

But heavy rain hit the site overnight and on Sunday morning media was cleared from the area surrounding the cave, triggering speculation the operation had commenced.

late update on ABC news. Leader and at least one boy might not be strong enough to move