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Associated Press

Thailand cave rescue of young football team picks up pace as break in rain eases flooding

July 1, 2018

The effort to locate the 12 boys and their football coach in northern Thailand, now missing for a week, has picked up pace, as a break in the rain eased flooding. 

Additional experts from around the world, including two Chinese teams, have also joined the rescue mission. 

For the families of the missing boys, the wait continues. They have gathered at the cave entrance to support each other, whatever the outcome of this massive rescue attempt turns out to be. 

James Wang, a member of the Chinese rescue team Green Boat Emergency Organization, believed they can help with the operation. 

"We have the skill to the rescue cave and the skill of SRT, single rope technology. So I think, in this environment we can do something for the children," said Wang. 

Another Chinese team has brought underwater drones and 3D imaging, though so far the floodwater has been too murky for it to be effective. 

The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach entered the sprawling Tham Luang Nang Non cave after a soccer game on June 23, but monsoon rains have thwarted the search for them. 

The Thai government has dispatched more than 10,000 soldiers to carry out the rescue operation. 

Rescue teams and experts from several countries, including the United States, Britain, Laos and Myanmar, have joined the search operation. 

The rescue effort has three strands: divers are trying to swim through the flooded caves to search for the missing team; soldiers are looking for fissures which may provide more ways in to the complex, and engineers are pumping out millions of gallons of water. 


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