Thai officials say a second operation to rescue boys from the flooded cave in Chiang Rai has begun, after the first four were brought out yesterday.
The same team of divers who successfully extracted four boys from the flooded cave network in just eight hours on Sunday were also conducting today's rescue mission, officials said.
Eight boys and their coach remain trapped in the chamber where they were found one week ago. On Monday, the young football team entered their 17th day lost inside the cave complex, which flooded suddenly from monsoon rains while they were exploring it after a match on 23 June.
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An aide to the Thai Navy Seal commander has provided the first official confirmation that four boys were brought from the flooded cave system today.
He also confirmed, as thought, that the rescue operation would now be wound down for the night.
"The eighth person is out and the operation is done for today," said flag officer Sitthichai Klangpattana. "Four boys were brought out today."
He did not comment on the boys' health or how well the operation had gone.
That brings to three the number of ambulances that have left the site Monday during what has been the second day of a high-risk operation to bring the boys out.
Authorities have been tightlipped about the progress of Monday's operation, but we do believe that an eighth boy has also been rescued.
'Sixth and seventh people rescued from cave'
Two more people have been carried out of the Tham Luang caves on stretchers, bringing the total number rescued to seven, a witness has told Reuters.
Thai authorities are remaining tight-lipped about who was inside the ambulance seen leaving the site of a flooded cave on Monday.
Associated Press said multiple calls to senior government officials and military personnel leading the rescue operation had gone unanswered.
Officials only confirmed the rescue of the four boys pulled from the cave on Sunday after several hours, when all four had been transported hospital.
Thai state TV has aired live video of a helicopter, believed to be carrying the fifth rescued boy, landing close to the hospital Chiang Rai.
Medics appeared to remove one person on a stretcher but screened the patient behind several white umbrellas. An ambulance was seen leaving the scene almost immediately afterwards.
Just over an hour earlier, the helicopter left a helipad close to the cave complex to cheers from a crowd below.
Thai media are reporting that the fifth boy was brought out of the cave at 4.23pm local time (10.23am BST) and taken to the nearby field hospital for assessment.
According to local TV stations, he will now be transferred by helicopter a hospital in Chiang Rai, about 45 miles away from the cave complex.
His four teammates who were rescued on Sunday are also at Chiang Rai, which is the nearest major city.
Thai authorities said earlier that the boys could not yet have physical contact with their families due to fears of infection. Their relatives were said to have seen in the hospital through a glass partition.
And now an ambulance with flashing lights has been seen leaving the Thai cave complex.
It is just over six hours after the latest operation to rescue the trapped boys began - if it is true that a fifth boy has been rescued in that time, it would mean long sections of the cave network are much more passable now than they have been at any time since the boys became trapped.
For adolescent boys in this mountainous region of far northern Thailand, venturing deep into the dark and mysterious Tham Luang cave network is seen as a rite of passage, reports Matt Blomberg.
Journeys venturing inside the cave were a regular part of training for the "Wild Boars" youth football team, building camaraderie among a group expected to go on to big things in the world's most lucrative sport.
Nine members of the team have now been stuck inside the cave for 17 days, after four boys were rescued on Sunday. And as the world hangs on the fate of the boys and their coach still trapped on a 10-square-metre ledge more than a mile inside the cave network, classmates of some of those missing are already declaring them heroes.
“They will be stronger when they come out,” said Nanthawat Prangsangwilia, a gangly 16-year-old who goes by the nickname Gan.
“When they come home, those kids will be able to teach us something – about how to survive, about how to stay safe in the caves.”
Gan declared that, armed with the wisdom of the survivors, he would still be willing now to head into the caves that have threatened to claim the lives of his fellow students.
Classmates of trapped Thai boys 'still plan to explore caves themselves'
The Independent | Exclusive: Students volunteering with rescue effort say their classmates 'will be able to teach us something – about how to survive, about how to stay safe in the caves'Breaking: Rescue workers in Thailand have been spotted carrying a person on a stretcher away from the cave complex and into a waiting ambulance, according to the Reuters news agency.
There has been no official confirmation that any boys have left the cave today. It would be a good couple of hours ahead of schedule, even a new schedule set by yesterday's rapid and successful operation, if any boys were to emerge now.
Divers entered the caves at 11am to launch today's rescue mission. At a press conference about an hour ago, officials said they hoped for good news "in the next few hours".
The first four boys were rescued on Sunday in an operation lasting 8 hours. Nine members of the team, believed to include the 25-year-old coach, remained in the cave as of this morning.
That key press briefing - likely to be the one and only of the day until there is a development with the boys in the cave - has concluded. Here is Matt Blomberg with a summary of what was said:
Rescue divers entered the Tham Luang caves around 11am this morning, the coordinator of the operation announced in the latest press briefing here in Mae Sai, but no timeframe has been set for them to emerge with the next group of boys.
Narongsak Osatanakorn, the former governor of Chiang Rai province, smiled when he spoke about the four boys rescued yesterday but grizzled at the media for interfering in the precarious evacuation process.
Mr Narongsak said the boys were stable and happy at the Chiang Rai Prachanukroh hospital, and that they had complained of hunger this morning and demanded Kow Pad Kra Pao – a chicken and basil dish common across northern Thailand.
He said the boys are being quarantined from their families for now, with fears that they could harbour and spread infection after 16 days without proper air, food or sunlight. They have only been able to see family members through a glass window.
The governor took aim at media personnel, hundreds of which are present in Mae Sai, for attempting to fly drones over the rescue site, which is closed off to all non-essential personnel. He warned that such efforts were “illegal” and also spoke about interference with radio communication systems, which he suggested had also come from media.
Narongsak Osatanakon, the acting governor, said conditions inside the cave network were "very similar" to yesterday. Four boys were successfully rescued during yesterday's dive, which officials had said would take 11 hours but actually took just under eight.
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Rescuers at the Thai cave woke up to cloudy skies on Monday. It was not immediately clear how the overnight rains had impacted water levels inside the flooded cave. Officials have said storms forecast for Chiang Rai province in Thailand's far north had factored into their decision to go ahead with a complicated and dangerous plan to have the boys and their coach dive out of the cave.
Thailand's Meteorological Department said there was a 60 per cent chance of rain Monday with thunderstorms forecast throughout the week.
The four boys saved yesterday have been taken to hospital and are said to be in good condition after their ordeal.
In comments released earlier by the government, Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda said divers needed to place more air canisters along the underwater route to where the boys and their coach have been trapped. He said that process could take several hours.
He said the boys rescued on Sunday are strong and safe but need to undergo detailed medical checks.
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