None of the 12 young football players and their coach are found to be seriously ill even though they have been trapped without foods in Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district for over 10 days, Chiang Rai Governor Narongsak Osotthanakorn said this morning.
Narongsak said the boys and their 25-year-old coach were found about 400 metres from the area called Pattaya Beach in the cave at 9.45pm on Monday.
He said credit must go to a team of three British rescuers who were the first to locate the 13. The three were later identified as John Volanthen, Richard Stanton and Robert Harper, who are described as world-renowned cave divers who joined the rescue efforts almost from the beginning.
The Chiang Rai governor, who directed the search and rescue operation, said based on the medical levels of illness – red, yellow and green — he received an unofficial report that most of them were at the green level and some might be at the yellow level. However, this had yet to be officially confirmed. Rescuers have brought them power gel, minerals, penicillin and paracetamol, he said.
The governor said once they are moved out of the cave, they will be sent to Chiang Rai Phrachanukroh Hospital where a special ward has been reserved for them. Thirteen ambulances have been on a stand-by to transport them to the hospital.
The governor declined to say when the party will be brought out, saying that this will be discussed at a meeting.
Narongsak said that he wants to make sure everyone is 100% safe before deciding the next course of action. He said SEAL teams are taking turns to go into the cave to take care of the survivors.
If the water level is still high, he said the survivors may have to be given a crash course on diving to get out. But this has to be decided by navy SEAL members, he added.
