The 12 young members of a youth soccer team and their coach, moments after they were found inside the cave complex in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park, Thailand, on July 3.
Still wearing their soccer uniforms and huddled on a rock ledge in the dark cave, the boys didn’t know what day it was and seemed uncertain that the men who’d emerged from the water were there to rescue them.
“You are very strong,” one of the divers said to the boys in English. When one of the youths asked what day it was, the rescuer replied, “Monday. Monday. You have been here more than a week — 10 days.”
The youths said they were hungry, one chanting “Eat, eat, eat” in English.
The rescuer assured them that assistance was on its way: “Many people are coming. We are the first. Many, many others are coming.”
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The dramatic discovery late Monday in northern Thailand of the 12 missing boys and their soccer coach brought cries of relief from relatives who had gathered at the mouth of the cave, and ended a desperate and often frustrating search that drew international help and captivated the nation.
The discovery of the boys was captured on video and posted on the Thai Navy SEAL Facebook page. The youths appeared alert, chatty even and seemed anxious to see daylight again.
But their ordeal is not over. Officials said the boys, ages 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach need to first be examined by navy doctors and fed before they can be extricated from the partially flooded cave, and even that could pose difficulties if the water level begins to rise, as it did earlier in the search.
“First we need to drain the water and then we need to send the doctor to assess their health before we can take them out,” said the governor of Chiang Rai province, Narongsak Osotthanakorn.
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He offered no time frame for when the group might be brought out the cave. They have so far been given energy gels and basic medication.
The governor said the group was found by a pair of British divers about 300 yards from the patch of elevated dry land that has been at the center of a desperate rescue mission that drew experts from the United States, Australia, Israel, Britain and other nations.
“This is a sweet success,” the governor said at a news conference Tuesday. “We have accomplished what we had initially thought was ‘mission impossible.’ ”
Upon hearing the news, relatives of the missing leaped from makeshift beds in a room where they have been sleeping about 150 yards from the mouth of the cave. Some wept and hugged one another.
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The last four Thai navy SEALs come out safely July 10 after completing a rescue mission inside a cave near Mae Sai where 12 boys and their soccer coach were trapped.
(Royal Thai Navy )
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Reporters listen to Chiang Rai province acting Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn during a July 10 news conference on the mission to rescue those trapped in a cave near Mae Sai, Thailand.
(Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press)
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People celebrate July 10 after divers evacuated 12 boys and their coach trapped at the Tham Luang cave complex in northern Thailand.
(Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press)
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Police place umbrellas around an evacuation helicopter after the last of the trapped boys and their coach were extracted from a cave in Mae Sai, Thailand on July 10.
(Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press)
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Rescuers walk toward the entrance to a cave complex near Mae Sai, Thailand, before beginning operations July 10 to retrieve the last of those trapped inside the cavern.
(Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press)
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A Thai soldier helps direct the evacuation operation after all 12 boys of a soccer team and their coach were rescued from the cave complex on July 10.
(Pongmanat Tasiri / EPA / Shutterstock)
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A police ambulance evacuates a boy to a hospital after he was rescued from the Tham Luang cave in Thailand on July 10.
(Pongmanat Tasiri / EPA / Shutterstock)
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Onlookers watch and cheer as ambulances transport a rescued boy from a helipad to Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital in in Chiang Rai, Thailand, on July 10.
(Linh Pham / Getty Images)
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A man uses his mobile phone to take pictures July 10 near a hospital where the members of a youth soccer team and their coach were treated after being rescued from a cave in northern Thailand.
(Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP/Getty Images)
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An ambulance leaves the scene near Tham Luang Nang Non cave in the early hours on July 9, 2018 in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Divers began an effort to pull the 12 boys and their soccer coach on Sunday morning after they were found alive in the cave at northern Thailand.
(Linh Pham / Getty Images)
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This photo released by the Royal Thai Navy on July 7, 2018 shows a group of Thai Navy divers in Tham Luang cave during rescue operations for the 12 boys and their football team coach trapped in the cave at Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park.
(Royal Thai Navy )
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Onlookers watch and cheer as a helicopter flies towards an airstrip near Tham Luang Nang Non cave to transport the fifth boy rescued from the cave to hospital in Chiang Rai, Thailand.
(Lauren DeCicca / Getty Images)
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Finnish diver Mikko Paasi, left, prepares to take part in the rescue operation at Tham Luang cave.
(Pongmanat Tasiri / EPA-EFE/REX/Shu )
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Workers move air tanks at the Tham Luang cave as the rescue operation begins.
(Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP/Getty Images)
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Thai civil defense volunteers prepare to join the rescue operation for the 12 trapped boys and their coach Sunday at Tham Luang cave.
(Pongmanat Tasiri / EPA-EFE/REX/Shu )
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Journalists and nonessential personnel are ordered to leave the cave site and surrounding roads as the rescue operation begins.
(Linh Pham / Getty Images)
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A relative of one of the trapped boys goes to meet with officers during the rescue operation Sunday at Tham Luang cave.
(Pongmanat Tasiri / EPA-EFE/REX/Shu )
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Thai police stand guard at the Tham Luang cave area Sunday before the rescue operation begins.
(Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP/Getty Images)
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Volunteers prepare Friday to search for alternative entry points to a Thailand cave area as a rescue operation continues for 12 trapped boys and their soccer coach.
(Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP/Getty Images)
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Thai military honor guards transport a coffin containing the remains of former Thai Navy Seal Petty Officer 1st Class Saman Gunan, who died in the Tham Luang cave rescue operations.
(Rungroj Yongrit / EPA/Shutterstock )
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Military personnel salute in Chiang Rai, Thailand, as the body of Saman Kunan, the former Thai Navy Seal who died in the cave rescue effort, is flown back to his hometown in Roi Et.
(Linh Pham / Getty Images)
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Family members grieve during a ceremony for Saman Gunan, who died in the rescue effort at Tham Luang cave.
(Panumas Sanguanwong / AFP)
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Thai military bring water pumps to the cave in Chiang Rai, Thailand.
(Lauren DeCicca / Getty Images )
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Diving cylinders are prepared at a makeshift camp at the entrance of Tham Luang Nang Non caves.
(Linh Pham / Getty Images)
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Thai military personnel carrying equipment inside the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai province, Thailand.
(EPA)
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Rescuers make their way inside the Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex, where 12 boys and their soccer coach went missing in northern Thailand.
(Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press)
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Rescuers make their way inside the Tham Luang Nang Non caves in northern Thailand.
(Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press)
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A happy family member shows the latest pictures of the missing boys taken by rescue divers inside Tham Luang cave.
(Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP/Getty Images )
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The 12 members of a youth soccer team and their coach, moments after they were found inside the cave complex in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park, Thailand.
(Royal Thai Army )
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Thai soldiers load cables in the cave complex during the rescue operation.
(Royal Thai Army)
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Thai workers attempt to drain the water from the cave during the search and rescue operation.
(Pongmanat Tasiri / EPA-EFE/REX/Shu)
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Thai rescue teams inside the cave complex in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, in northern Thailand.
(Associated Press)
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Relatives of the missing boys pray after the soccer team and their coach were found alive.
(Linh Pham / Getty Images)
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Relatives celebrate while camping out near Tham Luang Nang Non cave following news that the boys and their coach were found.
(Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP/Getty Images)
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Gen. Bancha Duriyaphan speaks to the press after the 12 boys and their soccer coach were found alive in Chiang Rai, Thailand.
(Linh Pham / Getty Images)
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Relatives celebrate near the Tham Luang Nang Non cave following news that the soccer team and their coach were found alive.
(Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP/Getty Images)
The group went missing June 23. The boys and their coach roamed through a lush mountain range near the Mae Sai river before entering the Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex. The cave is a popular site among locals but one that is considered treacherous during the rainy season, which runs from May to October.
It is thought that the group walked deep inside the 5-mile-long cave complex before heavy rain partially flooded the cavern and prevented the 13 from turning back.
Rescue teams led by elite Thai navy divers pumped out muddy water and set up lights to illuminate the darkened cave complex, while locals and Buddhist monks flocked to say prayers and give offerings to spirits believed to watch over the site.
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The rescue mission was delayed by rainfall that continued to fill up the cave, forcing divers to turn back repeatedly. With no signs of the missing boys except bicycles by the entrance and a few handprints and footprints inside the cave, many were beginning to fear the worst.
Chaiyon Sirsamott, a local politician who has observed the drama since the second day, said even some experts he spoke with on-site were pessimistic that the group would be found alive.
“I lost my hope,” Chaiyon said. “And I didn’t know how high the water was in the cave.”
As the week progressed and experts arrived from international agencies — including U.S. military search-and-rescue personnel based in Okinawa, Japan — some officials voiced a sense of progress.
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But it wasn’t until Sunday, after several days of dry weather, that the water inside began to recede and become clearer, making it easier for divers to navigate.
A Thai official walks out of the entrance to the cave complex during the rescue operation for 12 missing boys and their soccer coach.
(Pongmanat Tasiri / EPA/Shutterstock )
Chaiyon said that he spoke to divers earlier Monday who said they had finally been able to pass a T-junction that was just before the area where the boys were thought to have taken refuge.
Thai Rear Adm. Arpakorn Yookongkaew said the boys appeared to be in good spirits, some jumping into the water when divers approached them. But Arpakorn said that “it will take time” before the group can leave.
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Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha issued a statement hailing “the tremendous efforts of all international units” involved in the search, the Associated Press reported.
“The Royal Thai government and the Thai people are grateful for this support and cooperation, and we all wish the team a safe and speedy recovery.”
Styllis is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Shashank Bengali in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
UPDATES:
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8:50 p.m.: This article has been updated with additional comments from the governor of Chiang Rai province.
4:45 p.m.: This article was updated with details from a video of the rescue.
1:35 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with staff reporting.
10 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details about the search and reports from Narongsak.
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9:15 a.m.: This article was updated with a quote from Chiang Rai provincial Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn, and the ages of the boys and coach.