Here’s the Latest on What’s Happening With the Thai Players Trapped in the Cave

Photo by Linh Pham/Getty Images
Photo by Linh Pham/Getty Images
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Editor

As the days roll on and the hours continue to tick by, the options seemingly become more limited. For a Thai team of 12 soccer players and their coach, all of whom have been trapped in a cave for several days, time is not on their side.

But they aren’t without hope and certainly aren’t without help.

What’s the situation?

Right now, all 12 players, ranging in ages from 11 to 16,  and their 25-year-old coach are stuck in the cavernous belly of the Thuam Luang cave complex, where they’ve been trapped since Saturday, June 23.

Their perilous predicament is the result of an “initiation” ceremony, where the young players traveled deep into the lengthy tunnel, hoping to scrawl their names on an inner wall, then venture back out, according to diving instructor Ben Reymenants, who is working to save the youngsters.

PRAISE: Thai Children’s Soccer Team Found Alive After Missing for 10 Days

The kids are roughly half a mile beneath the surface of the earth and more than mile away from the mouth of the tunnel that led to the damp and cavernous space from which they have so far been unable to escape.

The team was miraculously discovered after being lost for 10 days when a team of British rescue divers finally found them.

Who is helping?

Now that the children have been found alive, a massive team of first responders — including expert divers, medical staff, and law enforcement officers — are working around the clock to help bring the bunch to safety.

Among all those working to save the soccer team, two medical professionals — a doctor and a nurse — have volunteered to stay in the cave with the kids, tending to their medical needs, for as long as it takes — days, weeks, or even months.

And on the spiritual front, some of the players’ classmates are rallying at the mouth of the tunnel, where they are lifting the children and their coach up in prayer and song. “Believe in God. Only belief can move a mountain,” the kids declared in a song.

Classmates Pray Outside Cave Entrance of Trapped Youth Soccer Team Ahead of Treacherous Rescue Op

“We are here to pray and sing for them,” one classmate told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “We want our friends inside and rescue teams to know that we are sending our support.

In addition, first responders are working to set up a phone line between the earth above and the cave below so the soccer players and their coach can talk to their loved ones.

What are their options?

Rescue teams have been working to pump some 2,600 gallons of water out of the caves every hour. So far, roughly 34 million gallons of water have been removed from the flooded tunnel, equaling a decrease in water level of more than 15 inches since Wednesday, Gizmodo reported.

But a monsoon is quickly approaching, and it could set their rescue efforts back greatly.

Young Thai Soccer Team Survived 10 Days in Cave — Now They May be Forced to Swim 6 Hours to Reach Safety

Though the children are too weak to even attempt an escape at the moment, according to a Thai Navy SEAL with knowledge of the situation, the youngsters could eventually be forced to don full-face diving masks to navigate the treacherous and extremely narrow tunnel, which amounts to a six-hour journey.

“Diving is not easy,” Thai Interior Minster Anupong Paojinda told the Evening Standard. “For people who have never done it, it will be difficult, unlike diving in a swimming pool, because the cave’s features have small channels. If something happens midway, it could be life-threatening.”

If they are, however, able to sufficiently drain the water before the storm hits, the children would ideally be able to walk out. If the storm comes, though, before the children have been brought to safety, they could potentially be forced to remain in the cave for months.

Please continue to keep the soccer team, their coach, the medical experts, the rescue divers, and all the other first responders in your prayers.