Chiang Rai: Naval personnel have begun retrieving huge piles of equipment left behind in Tham Luang cave, eight months after the rescue of 12 trapped Wild Boars footballers and their coach.
The gear was left behind due to flooding in the cave complex.
However, now is the "right time" for the retrieval because water levels are low in the cave complex, authorities decided after their latest meeting.
The navy will first bring out equipment belonging to the Naval Special Warfare Command, locally nicknamed "Seals", which led the strenuous rescue efforts to bring the under-16 football team and its coach out to safety in July last year.
Seal commander Rear Admiral Apakorn Yukongkaew yesterday led the mission, which involved 200 personnel and volunteers.
The first sortie to clear up the cave will last three days, during which Tham Luang will be closed to facilitate the work.
An inspection was carried out on Jan 17, but it was cut short after the 35-member team had revisited only some sections along the dark narrow route towards the Pattaya Beach and Nern Nom Sao chambers where the footballers were found.
They found a large amount of equipment in chambers 1-3 located near the cave mouth but could not walk the 700 metres further to Pattaya Beach and Nern Nom Sao due to high water levels.
The items they spotted included 300 oxygen tanks, ropes, electrical wires, communication radios as well as various water pumps, which played a key role in holding rising floodwater at bay during the historic, life-saving mission. The navy said yesterday it plans at least two missions to recover all the equipment. The next one will run from March 26 to 29.
