Thailand cave rescue: Elation turns to urgency as rescuers race to free boys before expected heavy rain

'I don’t see that they can get the water down enough so the boys can get out without having to dive', says Briton who found group

The euphoria of discovering 12 boys and their football coach alive after they were trapped by flash flooding in a cave in Thailand for nine days has turned to uncertainty as the complications of the rescue operation have been revealed.

Thai Navy SEALs said a unit of seven divers had reached the boys in the Luang Nang Non Cave on Monday, including a doctor and a nurse, and reported that none of those trapped were in a serious condition.

But the rescue operation is fraught as authorities work out how best to bring them out of the deep cave network which is up to a kilometre (3,200 feet) below the surface.

Heavy rain is forecast within the next three days, which could threaten the air pocket where the group were found.

Rescue teams are pumping water out of the caves, but it is not thought possible to pump out enough water for the boys to get out without having to use scuba diving equipment.

Most of the boys are unable to swim, and the small underwater passages make for a difficult exit, even for experienced divers.

Thai authorities are pumping water from the caves (EPA)

On Tuesday the Thai military suggested the boys would have to learn to dive or face having to survive for up to four months in the caves while they waited for flood waters to subside, with food being brought in.

The group, who are all part of a football team called the Wild Boars, are aged 11 to 16, and went missing on 23 June. When they were found, they were on a rock shelf four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the mouth of the cave. They are said to be half a mile beneath the surface.

They had one torch between them, which had run out of batteries when they were found.

This view was echoed by one of the two British divers who first found the boys.

Jonathan Volanthen was with his colleague Rick Stanton when they located the group. It was their voices which could be heard in a video taken when the boys were found.

Mr Stanton is a retired firefighter from Coventry, while Mr Volanthen is an IT consultant in Bristol. The pair are working with Thai Navy SEALs as they continue the rescue operation.

Mr Volanthen told BBC News that in this scenario “there aren’t many options” when it comes to rescuing the boys. He said it is unlikely the Thai authorities will be able to pump the water out.

“I don’t see that they can get the water down enough so the boys can get out without having to dive”.

It is also possible they will have to remain in the cave for many months, until the water level comes down, he said.

The pair made several reconnaissance dives before they were able to locate the chamber where the boys were found.

According to Divernet, a scuba diving website, Mr Stanton and Mr Volanthen laid guidelines for Thai military divers to follow, and stashed oxygen cylinders along the route for future use.

The Thai authorities have appealed for donations for full-face scuba diving masks which are easier for beginners to use than normal air regulators which fit into the mouth.

Meanwhile, a phone line is being installed so those trapped can talk to their families.

It has also emerged that the boys may have gone into the cave as part of a local “initiation” process, one of the British dive team assisting the operation said.

They were “wading in and trying to go to the end of the tunnel, sort of like an initiation for local young boys to … Write your name on the wall and make it back”, Ben Reymenants told Sky News.

Thai police have said they will look into whether the 25-year-old coach could face legal action for leading the boys into the cave.

The Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha praised the international reaction to the incident.

”Thank you all Thais, thank you all foreigners, everybody is a hero and everybody helped each other,” he said.

A still from footage taken the moment the group was found (Reuters) (REUTERS)

His government has issued guidance on how the boys should be rehabilitated once out of the caves, including warnings about what the public publish on social media. It says the boys should not be exposed to images of the incident to avoid psychological repercussions.