Chiang Rai, 8th July 2018 – According to the Facebook page of the British Cave Rescue Council (BCRC), the team today dispatched divers to joined the rescue operation for the 12 local boys and their football coach trapped inside the flooded Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand.
The BCRC said the diving team had been assigned the duty in anticipation of the decision of the rescue operation head, Narongsak Osottanakorn, to proceed with the evacuation operation, which was officially launched this morning.
Earlier, the head of the Tham Luang rescue operation, announced rescuers had entered the cave at bout 10 a.m. to extract the survivors. He told the media that the officials expect to be able to bring the first batch of stranded boys out of the cave, at around 9 p.m..
Narongsak explained their decision to go ahead with the operation today, pointing out that many areas of the flooded cave have been drained to a safe level to permit walking some of the distance.
Meanwhile, Government Spokesperson Lt. Gen. Sansern Keawkamnerd has revealed that Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha will tomorrow visit Phuket to follow up on assistance measures for the victims of the boat-capsize incident at 11a.m. and pay a visit to the boat capsize survivors at the Vajira Phuket Hospital.
The spokesperson added that the Prime Minister will later visit Chiang Rai via helicopter to monitor the Tham Luang cave rescue operation, arriving in the afternoon.
The Prime Minister is expected to return to Bangkok at 9 PM.
The spokesperson said that the Prime Minister also prays for success in the mission to bring home the stranded 13 youths, while offering words of encouragement to the rescuers in both Phuket and Chiang Rai.
