Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
LAST UPDATE | 10 Jul 2018
ALL 12 BOYS and their football coach have been rescued from a flooded Thai cave today, completing an astonishing rescue mission that has captivated the world.
The announcement was made by the Thai Navy Seals, who had been updating the world via Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/ThaiSEAL/posts/1645534662236593
Authorities had been confident of getting the final two out by this evening, 18 days after the dozen boys and their coach became trapped deep inside the Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand.
“(They) will be extracted today,” rescue chief Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters this morning after elite foreign divers and Thai Navy SEALs escorted eight members of the Wild Boars football team out in highly risky operations over the previous two days.
This afternoon multiple sources involved in the operation said three more boys had been brought out.
The news then emerged that all 12 boys and their coach have been removed.
Four divers are now to be taken out from the cave, where they had been waiting with the boys since their discovery.
https://www.facebook.com/ThaiSEAL/posts/1645665392223520
How it happened
The 12 boys, aged from 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach, ventured into the cave on June 23 after football practice and got caught deep inside when heavy rains caused flooding that trapped them on a muddy ledge.
They spent nine harrowing days trapped in darkness until two British divers found them.
Authorities then struggled to devise a safe plan to get them out, mulling ideas such as drilling holes into the mountain or waiting months until monsoon rains ended and they could walk out.
With oxygen levels in their chamber falling to dangerous levels and complete flooding of the cave system possible, rescuers pushed ahead with the least-worst option of having divers escort them out through the extremely narrow and water-filled tunnels.
The ups and downs of the rescue bid have entranced Thailand and also fixated a global audience, drawing support from celebrities as varied as US President Donald Trump, football star Lionel Messi and tech guru Elon Musk.
‘Hooyah’
The emergence of the second batch of four boys yesterday evening was greeted with a simple “Hooyah” by the SEAL team on their Facebook page, an exclamation that lit up Thai social media.
Positive medical reports on the rescued group further fuelled the sense of joy and optimism.
“All eight are in good health, no fever… everyone is in a good mental state,” Jedsada Chokdamrongsuk, permanent secretary of the public health ministry, said at Chiang Rai hospital where the boys were recuperating on Tuesday morning.
However all of the boys, and their coach, will remain in quarantine until doctors were sure they had not contracted any infections from inside the cave.
Experts warned that drinking contaminated water or otherwise being exposed to bird or bat droppings in the cave could lead to dangerous infections.
But the early signs on the initial eight were promising, with X-rays and blood tests showing just two had signs of pneumonia and that they were in a “normal state” after taking antibiotics, Jedsada said.
Some had even asked for “bread and chocolate spread”, he added.
Final push
Following a similar pattern as the previous two days, the divers ventured back into the cave at 10am today, Narongsak told reporters.
However, unlike Sunday and Monday when only four were brought out each day due to logistical constraints, rescuers would try to extract all of the remaining five in one operation, Narongsak said.
A doctor and three SEALS who had stayed with the footballers would also come out today, he added.
The escape route was a challenge for even experienced divers. The boys had no previous diving experience so the rescuers trained them how to use a mask and breathe underwater via an oxygen tank.
One fear had been that they would panic while trying to swim underwater, even with a diver escorting them.
Although there have been no major reported complications during the initial rescues, the death of a former Thai Navy SEAL diver who ran out of oxygen in a flooded area of the cave on Friday underscored the dangers of the journey.
“I cannot understand how cool these small kids are, you know? Thinking about how they’ve been kept in a small cave for two weeks, they haven’t seen their mums,” Ivan Karadzic, who runs a diving business in Thailand and has been involved in the rescue mission, told the BBC.
“Incredibly strong kids. Unbelievable almost.”
© – AFP, 2018 - additional reporting Aoife Barry
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Party based voting is a perversion of the democratic process. It should be illegal to force a TD to vote a certain way. They are supposed to represent their constituents views.
They are elected on a party platform as opposed to their own views. Therefore its reasonable to assume that most people voting for them are also voting on the party platform. It would then be wrong for them to suddenly decide that they don’t want to represent that platform. If that’s what they want they should go as an independent before the electorate.
There’s nothing wrong with party based voting, per se. It’s party based speaking time in the Dáil that’s the problem. The smaller your party, the less time you have to speak. If you’re an independent, you’re screwed unless you put together a technical group.
Is the catholic church or the government running this country ?
Or in other words ‘Is the catholic church or the government RUINING this country?
We have no idea how much the catholic church runs the government. Any politician that is catholic could face excommunication on these matters. Thats the gun being held to their head.Do we really want to live in a state run by an organisation without credibilty. This is a fight to the death for the catholic church. They see their power slipping away.
Since all the Sunday collections have nearly stopped the Fs (FG/FF) have directed larger amounts of tax payers money into church controlled charities (Ruhama, Immigrants Council of Ireland…).
Those charities in turn use their citizen paid PR departments to push church policy from an ‘independent’ advocacy position. The local TD gets to cut the ribbon at the next charity event, they get elected for ‘doing good for the community’ (non-church groups don’t have a chance) with the aid of the few votes the church can muster.
The whip ensures that there is no free vote and the church/government policy/finance/vote loop is closed.
There should be no obfuscation or waffling on this matter. We need to legislate with safeguards for all. Its a disgrace that we have, after all this time, exported our problems abroad as if it never happens. Typically Irish solution to an Irish problem, stick our heads in the sand and hope it goes away. We need “Savita” legislation now.
We need to legislate with safeguards for all…………………what in all that’s holy could this mean?
Meanwhile over 4,000 women still travel to the UK, it’s really time we face the reality instead of continuing to stick our heads in a sandbox
Another insult to our intelligence by the masters, Fine Gael. They haven’t the nerve to vote as a party on the matter after Savitas death,so are hoping to weasel around it with a free vote.
Don’t believe me? Where was Shatter calling for a free vote back in April on the same matter?
“an insult to our intelligence”…….mmmmmmm?
Has the Dáil ever had a free vote recently, it must be one of the world’s most whipped parliaments.
Any TD who votes no is blocking the democratic will of the people. No TD should even countenance voting no.
In terms of abortion in general, I don’t think parties should have policies other than a commitment to hold referenda or not. That said, every candidate should state the way they would vote on such matters before the election.
Dame Edna has said NO.
A free vote for all TDs is essential. Otherwise we will have a dictatorship headed by Dictator Enda!
Some say that the Supreme Court decision on the X case is probably incorrect and unconstitutional. If true why has the Expert Committee of Advisers not recommended a review of the X case before recommending legislation.FG gave a or election commitment that it would NOT legislate for abortion.It is now doing so. FG has adopted the policies of the Labour Party on abortion. If the government do not reassess its position FG will be wiped out at the next election. Remember the VAT on children’s shoes! Sad!
have your say