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New Video Gives a Glimpse of Trapped Thai Soccer Players

by VOA News

   Thai Navy divers released new video Wednesday of the youth soccer team
   who have been trapped in a flooded cave complex for nearly two weeks,
   as rescue crews try to come up with a way to bring them out safely.

   The video shows the boys wrapped in foil blankets they received when
   divers reached them earlier this week. The youngsters looked into the
   camera, pressing their palms together in a traditional Thai greeting,
   introducing themselves and thus assuring the world they are safe.

   The 12 boys -- ages 11 to 16 -- and their 25-year-old coach were found
   Monday huddled on a ledge deep in the Tham Luang caves in northern
   Chaing Rai province.

   Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda said the team might have to be
   taught diving skills in order to get them out, but that might prove
   extra difficult since some of the boys cannot swim.

   "The evacuation must speed up," Anupong told the Bangkok Post. "Diving
   gear will be used. If the water rises, the task will be difficult. We
   must bring the kids out before then."

   But Chaing Rai Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn told reporters Wednesday
   officials will not not take action until they are "100 certain"
   conditions are safe enough to evacuate the team.

   Evacuation crews are continuing to try to pump water out of the cave,
   but more rains have been forecast later this week.

   The ordeal has left the 12 boys and their coach emaciated and weak.
   Divers have supplied them with edible high-energy gels and medicine. A
   few of the divers, including medics, are staying with the group in the
   cave.

   WATCH: Cave rescue plan

   'The team had been missing since June 23, when they did not return to
   their homes from practice.

   The only trace of them had been bicycles and soccer cleats found
   outside the entrance of the complex, and handprints along the cave
   walls. Heavy flooding brought on by days of heavy rains have hampered
   the divers' efforts to reach the team.

   Experts from the United States, Australia, China and Britain have
   assisted in the search-and-rescue efforts.

   The Tham Luang complex is prone to severe flooding during Thailand's
   rainy season, which lasts from June to October.