In pictures: 12 boys, coach escape death in cave

Jul 10, 2018

The boys got lost on June 23, 2018 after their football practice.

PIC:A group of Thai Navy divers in Tham Luang cave during rescue operations for the 12 boys and their football team coach trapped in the cave at Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province.( AFP)

RESCUE MISSION

MAE SAI - For over a fortunight, 12 boys and their coach had been trapped in Tham Luang cave in mountainous northern Thailand.

The boys got lost on June 23, 2018 after their football practice and got caught deep inside when heavy rains caused flooding that trapped them on a muddy ledge. 

The boys, together with their coach spent nine harrowing days trapped in in darkeness before they were discovered.

But, at last the boys have been rescued by the Thai navy, the Navy Seals confirmed on Tuesday.

The rescue mission that started in late June has finally come to an end after the last five boys and their coach were safely led out of the cave to return to their fsmilies.

Here is how it went down in pictures.

Family members pray before a shrine in Tham Luang cave area as operations continue for the 12 boys and their coach trapped at the cave at Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province on July 5, 2018.(AFP)

Prayer was the order of the day, the breakfast and dinner for parents and family members whose children were trapped in the cave.

After the children went missing, parents and relatives to the boys who worried for their children's lives turned to God to pray for the safe return of their children.

This handout video grab taken from footage released by the Royal Thai Navy late July 2, 2018, shows missing children inside the Tham Luang cave of Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province. (AFP)

Meanwhile, upon discovery, the children were trapped in darkness inside a cold and flooded cave that had swallowed them for over nine days without getting any help from the outside world.

Inside the cave, the boys could nolonger tell the defference between day and night.

This handout video grab taken from footage released by the Royal Thai Navy on July 4, 2018 and taken on July 3 shows Adul Sam-on (R), a member of a Thai youth football team who is trapped with 11 other children and their coach, gesturing as he sits inside the Tham Luang cave in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province.(AFP)

But where there is life, there is hope. A family of one of the boys through all the pressure and trying situation was still positive. They were to see their son again.

A live and kicking and so they kept his birthday cake and presents they had prepared for him before he circumed to the tragedy. 

A family member to one of the boys holds out a cake they had prepared to suprise their son with ahead of his birthday. (AFP)

After weeks of prayer, and hardwork trying to save the children. The Navy team successfully managed to rescue all 12 boys and their coach alive.

Thai Navy soldiers in the flooded Tham Luang cave during rescue operations for the 12 boys and their football team coach trapped in the cave at Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province.(AFP)

Thai soldiers arrive at the Tham Luang cave area as rescue operations continue for the 12 boys and their coach trapped at the cave in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province on July 6, 2018.(AFP)

Police and military personnel use umbrellas to cover around a stretcher near a helicopter and an ambulance at a military airport in Chiang Rai on July 9, 2018, as rescue operations continue for those still trapped inside the cave in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in the Mae Sai district.(AFP)


Four boys among the group of 13 trapped in a flooded Thai cave for more than a fortnight were rescued on July 8 after surviving a treacherous escape, raising hopes elite divers would also save the others soon.

And indeed, by Tuesday evening all were saved and they got to see their  families again. And the story of happily ever after come to the end of its begining...

 

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