BANGKOK, July 10. /TASS/. Rescue workers have evacuated the last of 12 kids and their coach, who remained trapped in Thailand’s Khao Luang cave for more than two weeks, the Spring News TV channel reported on Tuesday.
According to the TV channel, the 12th kid and the youth football team’s coach were brought out at about 17:40 local time (10:40 GMT). They were immediately sent for a medical examination, but there has been no news about their condition. All the rescued are expected to be taken to the hospital soon.
At around 16:00 local time (09:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the ninth boy was evacuated, the tenth one came out of the cave at 16:33 and the eleventh kid was rescued at 17:13. Tuesday’s evacuation operation involved more than 100 people.
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 in helicopters.