Search and rescue teams in Thailand were attempting to locate on Monday an under-16 football team that has been missing in a flooded cave complex since Saturday.
Twelve boys and their 20-year-old coach were believed to have been trapped by rising waters inside the Tham Luang cave network when heavy rain hit.
Divers have reached a large chamber of the vast cave inside which they are believed to be stuck, said the deputy governor of Chiang Rai province.
"We think they are in this part of the cave, which continues for another three kilometers (two miles)," Pasakorn Boonyalug said.
"They haven't eaten anything since Saturday, so we have brought them food and drink," he added.
Chote Narin, an officer at Mae Sai district police station, said footprints and handprints were found inside the cave complex and officials believe the boys are still alive.
He said the fact that they are athletes should help them endure the situation.
A mother reported that her son never returned from football practice on Saturday, setting off the search.
"Right now, our family is hoping that the children trapped inside will have formed a group and are safe and waiting for officials to go in and save them in time. That's what I'm hoping," Noppadol Kantawong, the father of one of the missing boys, told Thai PBS on Sunday.
Footage on Thai television showed bicycles, backpacks and football cleats left outside the entrance to the cave. The area was filled with soldiers and rescue personnel.
The cave is a tourist attraction but can flood severely during Thailand's rainy season, which runs from June to October.
Tourists trapped in the cave by past floods have been rescued after the water receded a few days later.
