A Navy Seal team, a remote controlled submarine and two heat-seeking drones have been deployed in a race against time to rescue 12 teenage members of a youth football team and their coach, trapped in a flooded cave complex in northern Thailand.
The boys, aged 11 to 16, have been missing since they decided to explore Tham Luang Nang Non caves, a popular tourist attraction in Chiang Rai province near the border with Burma, on Saturday.
The search to find them has been hampered by flood waters rising up to 7m inside the cave’s chambers due to Thailand’s rainy season.
Electricians worked through the night to extend a 900m power cable inside the cave to provide light and ventilation for rescue divers. Prawit Wongsuwon, the defence minister said that the authorities were also prepared to drill into the mountain if necessary.
The boys’ bicycles, backpacks and football boots still lay where were the boys entered the complex, next to a makeshift campsite where their parents now waited anxiously, reported the Bangkok Post.
Some relatives kneeled down and prayed, while others performed a ritual calling out for those who were missing, the paper reported.
“My son, come on out! I am waiting for you here!” cried one mother.
Namhom Boonpiam, whose son Mongkol, 13, was among the group, 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.”
The caves are generally considered off limits during the rainy season, which runs from June to October.
However, the authorities said that footprints and handprints were found inside, and that tourists trapped there by past floods have been found alive after the waters receded.
Officials hope that the team and their coach have been able to take shelter in dry spaces within the vast underground complex.
“We're confident that the kids should still be in good condition,” said Passakorn Bunyalak, the local deputy governor, adding that rescuers had seen nothing inside the cave to indicate otherwise.