In northern Thailand, hundreds of international rescue workers spent the past 10 days searching for a group of 12 boys, ages 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old soccer coach who became trapped in a cave after flooding caused by relentless monsoon rains. Late on July 2, rescue teams discovered all of the boys and their coach alive and in relatively good health, sheltering deep inside the cave complex. Outside, family and friends, who gathered in recent days to pray, welcomed the news. While the boys have been found, extracting them from the cave still remains a difficult task—much of the return trip is underwater and even though pumps are lowering the water level, the rainfall is not letting up. Thai officials are reportedly weighing options that include waiting for passages to become dry enough, or providing the boys with diving gear and having them swim through some submerged sections.
After 10 Days Trapped in a Cave in Thailand, a Difficult Rescue Lies Ahead
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Read moreA rescuer makes his way down at the entrance to a cave complex where 12 boys and their soccer coach went missing, in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, in northern Thailand, on July 2, 2018. #
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Read moreA pair of soccer shoes are left next to bicycles from a group of missing boys at the entrance of a deep cave in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand, on June 25, 2018. #
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Read moreEmergency rescue teams gather in the staging area as they continue the search for a young soccer team and their coach on June 26, 2018, in Mae Sai. #
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Read moreFamily members and relatives pray at the entrance of Tham Luang cave while rescue personnel conduct operations at the cave in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park on June 26, 2018. #
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Read moreThai rescue personnel carry oxygen tanks inside Tham Luang cave during rescue operations in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park on June 26, 2018. #
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Read moreFamily members and relatives pray at the entrance of Tham Luang cave in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park on June 26, 2018. Some hold fishing nets to symbolically fish out lost spirits inside the cave, as others perform a ritual calling to the missing. #
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Read moreThai soldiers climb into the Tham Luang cave on June 26, 2018, during a rescue operation. #
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Read moreJournalists work in the entrance to Tham Luang cave on June 27, 2018. #
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Read moreA Thai Buddhist monk prays for 12 boys and their soccer coach, in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand on June 27, 2018. #
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Read morePrayer offerings are displayed as rescue workers continue their search on June 27, 2018. #
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Read moreRelatives of 12 young soccer team members and their coach pray at a shrine for their rescue in Mae Sai on June 27, 2018. #
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Read moreLocal people release a pig as they pray near the Tham Luang caves on June 27, 2018. #
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Read moreA woman carries a chicken to release as people pray near the Tham Luang caves on June 27, 2018. #
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Read moreThai soldiers bring hoses and additional water pumps to continue the search for 12 young soccer team members and their coach in Mae Sai on June 27, 2018. #
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Read moreRescue personnel search for alternate entrances into the cave on June 27, 2018. #
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Read moreVolunteer paramedics wear boots in the muddy ground of their outpost at Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park on June 27, 2018. #
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Read moreJournalists wait for a press event near Tham Luang cave complex during search operations on June 28, 2018. #
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Read moreBritish cave-diver John Volanthen walks out from Tham Luang Nang Non cave in full kit without any response to reporter's questions on June 28, 2018, in Chiang Rai, Thailand. #
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Read moreA rescuer makes her way down muddy steps past water pump hoses at the entrance to the cave complex on June 29, 2018. #
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Read moreThai soldiers searching for the missing children and their coach march out of the Tham Luang Nang Non cave on June 29, 2018. #
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Read moreA Thai Air Force member drops from a helicopter into a clearing in the forest near a possible overground opening to the Tham Luang cave, on June 30, 2018, as the rescue operation continues. #
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Read moreAn ethnic Akha woman prays for the return of the missing members of an under-16 soccer team and their coach, near the Tham Luang cave complex, on June 30, 2018. #
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Read moreThai Buddhist monks pray for the 12 boys and their soccer coach in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, on July 1, 2018. #
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Read moreThai school children pray for their missing classmates from the grounds of Mae Sai Prasitsart school, near Tham Luang cave, on July 2, 2018. Classmates spoke of their hopes for a miracle rescue on July 2, as divers inched through thick mud and water towards an air pocket where the group is believed to be. #
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Read moreIn this handout photo released by Tham Luang Rescue Operation Center, Thai rescue teams walk inside a cave complex where 12 boys and their soccer coach went missing, on July 2, 2018. #
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Read moreThis Monday, July 2, 2018, photo released by Tham Luang Rescue Operation Center, shows the boys and their soccer coach as they were found in a partially flooded cave, in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai. The 12 boys and coach found after 10 days are mostly in stable medical condition and have received high-protein liquid food, officials said Tuesday, though it was not known when they would be able to go home. #
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Read moreThai Navy Seals celebrate near the Tham Luang cave complex, as local media reports the finding of the boys and their coach, alive inside the cave, on July 2, 2018. #
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Read moreA family member shows a picture believed to have been taken in 2017 of four of the 12 missing boys after hearing the news the group was found, near the Tham Luang cave on July 2, 2018. #
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Read moreFamily members celebrate while camping out near Tham Luang cave following news all members of children's football team and their coach were alive in the cave at Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park on July 2, 2018. #
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Read moreHundreds of rescuers and tons of equipment are still being sent inside Tham Luang Nang Non cave to continue the rescue operation after the 12 boys and their coach were found alive inside the cave on July 3, 2018, in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osatanakorn announced on Monday that the boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach were being rescued from Tham Luang Nang Non cave after they were discovered by naval special forces and the challenge now will be to extract the party safely. #
Linh Pham / Getty
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