How will Thai boys found in cave be rescued?

A group of 12 boys and their football coach have been found alive, nine days after getting trapped in a cave in Thailand.

The boys, aged between 11 and 16, entered the Tham Luang Nang Non cave system on Saturday, 23 June for a team outing, and were sealed in by sudden and continuously heavy rain that flooded the cave.

Video footage posted on the Facebook page of the Thai Navy Seals shows the moment two British divers found the team hungry, but alive, on a small dry area inside the cave, surrounded by water.

Who found them?

The British divers believed to be the first to find the group have been identified as Rick Stanton and John Volanthen.

Rescue workers, including Thai Navy Seals and experts from the US, UK and Australia, had initially been trying to reach a part of the cave known informally as Pattaya Beach where it was thought the team had taken shelter.

However, that part of the cave system was also flooded, forcing the boys to find a dry area to huddle together around 400 metres deeper into the cave.

What happens next?

Local governor Narongsak Osottanakorn has confirmed that the team are all safe, but has warned that the rescue effort was “not done yet”.

CNN says that a medical team will be sent into the cave to assess the group before any decision is made on how to extract them, while authorities continue to try to drain as much water from the cave as possible.

“None of the team can swim and rescuers have said they may have to wait several weeks for the water to subside before they can be taken out,” The Guardian reports.

In a statement, Captain Akanand Surawan of the Royal Thai Navy said that other options include providing the group with four months’ worth of food and teaching them how to dive.