[UPDATE – Monday, July 9, 20.19pm]
CNN reports the eighth boy has been pulled from the cave. Operations have stopped for the day, with four boys and the coach still underground.
[UPDATE – Monday, July 9, 19.57pm]
Two more boys have been pulled from the cave, says CNN. This leaves five boys behind with the coach. However, media on-site report that they are battling to get any information from authorities. Multiple calls to senior government officials and military personnel leading the operation to rescue the members of the youth soccer team rang unanswered Monday evening, reports Associated Press.
[UPDATE – Monday, July 9, 18.10pm]
Ambulance with flashing lights seen leaving Thai cave complex hours after latest operation to rescue trapped boys began. CNN reported 15 minutes ago that the first boy has been extracted already.
[UPDATE – Monday, July 9, 17.35pm]
The four boys pulled from the cave Sunday in an urgent and dangerous operation that involved them diving through the cave’s dark, tight and twisting passages were happy and in good health, authorities said.
“This morning they said they were hungry and wanted to eat khao pad grapao,” Narongsak said, referring to a Thai dish of meat fried with chili and basil and served over rice.
Still, the four were undergoing medical checks in a hospital in the provincial capital and were not yet allowed close contact with relatives due to fear of infections. Relatives were able to see them through a glass partition, the governor said.
[UPDATE – Monday, July 9, 16.37pm]
Four members of a Thai youth football team guided out of a flooded cave complex will not be allowed physical contact with their parents until the risk of infection has gone, the chief of the rescue bid said Monday.
“They (the four) will be kept away from their parents for a while because we are concerned about infections,” Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters, adding doctors will decide on family visits “at a distance or through glass.”
It has been reported that the boys, who had been missing since June 23, will have to wait two days before they get to see their parents again. In addition, Thai media have refused to release the names of the rescued boys so as to not make the experience even more painful for the parents of the boys who are still in the cave. In other words, the rescued children’s parents do not know that they are safe.
The operation to rescue the remaining eight boys is still underway.
Thai authorities say they have resumed operations to rescue members of a boys’ soccer team trapped in a flooded cave after successfully getting four of the boys out Sunday.
They said the four boys already rescued are hungry but in good health in a hospital.
The second operation started at 11 a.m. local time Monday. It takes several hours.
Family of Thai boy still trapped in cave long for a birthday party reunion
Officials said at a news conference that the parents of the rescued boys, whose names have not been released, have not yet been allowed to have physical contact with them, pending more extensive examination of their physical condition.
Eight boys are still inside the cave and along with the team coach. The operation to get them out was supposed to resume only after new oxygen tanks could be placed along their route of escape, which is partially underwater.