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Thai Boys Rescued from Flooded Cave to Make First Public Appearance

by VOA News

   A week after their dramatic rescue from a flooded cave complex, the 12
   teenage members of a Thai football team and their adult coach will make
   their first public appearance.

   The Wild Boars team will answer submitted questions from journalists
   from their hospital in the northern town of Chaing Rai Wednesday before
   they are discharged. The 45-minute session will be broadcast live
   nationwide.

   Officials say the boys, whose ages range from 11 to 16, and their coach
   are all in good mental and physical health, but doctors remain worried
   about any long-term psychological trauma from their two-week long
   confinement.

   The saga began in late June, when the team failed to return home from
   practice. Their bikes and other items were found outside the Tham Luang
   cave complex, triggering a massive search that ended nine days later
   when they found the boys on a high ledge, trapped after the cave began
   filling with floodwaters.

   A team of divers from Thailand and other nations began a desperate
   effort to pull the group out over three separate days last week, as
   heavy monsoon rains triggered new flooding inside the cave, sparking
   fears the boys and their coach would run out of oxygen in their tight
   space.

   A former Thai Navy SEAL, Saman Gunan, died while placing spare air
   tanks along the escape route in preparation for the team's rescue. He
   ran out of air trying to swim out of the cave.

   The team has been quarantined since their rescue to prevent them from
   contracting any kind of infection from their families.