BANGKOK, September 26. /TASS/. Russia’s ambassador in Thailand, Kirill Barsky, invited Thai schoolchildren, rescued from a flooded cave this summer, to Russia’s famous international children’s center Artek on the Black Sea coast.
The invitations were handed over to Thai Culture Minister Vira Rojpojchanarat on Tuesday. Barsky said the Russian side "did not insist on meeting the schoolchildren in person, because we understand what hardships they had to go through." Therefore, the embassy decided to hand over the invitations via the culture minister.
"I delivered invitations from Artek, which say that they are free to come this October, or between April and October 2019," the ambassador told Russian reporters. "I hope that they will make use of this invitation."
The ambassador also delivered presents, related to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, and red t-shirts of the Russian national football team with the boys’ names on them.
"If they [the schoolchildren] would want to make use of the invitation to visit Artek or meet Russian football stars, the embassy will be ready to render all assistance to them," the Russian diplomat said.
Twelve boys and their football coach remained trapped in Thailand’s Khao Luang cave for more than two weeks. On June 23, national park staff found a motorbike, bicycles and sports equipment near a cave entrance and contacted a local football club, which confirmed that those things belonged to 12 kids aged between 11 and 16 years and their 25-year-old coach.
The cave where the group went missing stretches almost ten kilometers, it has several entrances and exits, as well as large chambers, where the group members found shelter from the rising waters caused by a rainy season downpour.
On July 8-9, divers succeeded in evacuating eight children, who were taken to the hospital on helicopters. On July 10, rescue workers brought out the remaining four kids and the coach. All of them were taken to a hospital and were discharged on July 18.