Thailand Cave Rescue Mission Will Continue, Prime Minister Tells Families

THAM LUANG CAVE, Thailand — The prime minister of Thailand, Prayuth Chan-ocha, offered words of encouragement Friday to the families of 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped in a flooded cave complex, and pledged to continue a massive search and rescue operation.

“Until they come out, the officers will never abandon them,” Prayuth told about 75 relatives during his visit, in which he also inspected the cave entrance and spoke with officials leading the closely watched search.

Later, however, officials acknowledged that they faced many obstacles in finding the boys, ages 11 to 16, and their coach, 25, who have been missing since Saturday afternoon.

Despite a major mobilization of soldiers, park rangers, expert divers, engineers and geologists, the operation has made little headway.

The governor of Chiang Rai province, Narongsak Osottanakorn, who is overseeing the operation, said a few days ago that rescuers might reach the children by Friday. Instead, rising floodwaters have further inundated the cave.

Now, he said, he could not predict when rescuers might find them, even under the best conditions.

“That is the question I cannot answer,” he said. “We don’t want to guess. But we try our best.”

The group is trapped inside Tham Luang Cave, a popular destination for explorers in northern Thailand.

The cave complex was relatively dry when the team entered six days ago. But since then, heavy rains have caused floodwaters to rise inside, cutting off the team’s only route to escape and making the way virtually impassable for rescuers.

The governor said Friday afternoon that searchers had rappelled about 40 meters down a newly discovered chimney and into a muddy chamber. They were exploring it for an opening into the main cave system.

“What will the outcome be?” he asked. “We cannot answer, but we will continue working.”

The soccer team is believed to have walked at least 3 miles and reached a large cavern known as Pattaya Beach.

Despite repeated efforts, highly trained cave divers have succeeded only once in making it through muddy water and narrow passageways to a point beyond the flooded zone, Narongsak said. Once there, he said, they had little time to search before they had to turn back.

And after that success, he said, the water level rose even higher.

The government has brought in more than 40 pumps to try to reduce the volume of water. Nevertheless, the water level has kept rising.

Friday, he said, was the first day that the pumps were able to keep pace with the volume of water entering the cave.

“We think it is progress,” he said. “But today we have the same rate.”

A separate plan to drill a hole from the mountaintop into the Pattaya Beach cavern has also had problems.

Workers must first analyze the rock using sophisticated scanning equipment typically employed in mining to determine where the roof of the cave is thinnest, said Niwat Boonnop, director of the Office of Mineral Resources for the region that includes Tham Luang.

However, locating the proper equipment and figuring out how to transport it to the rugged mountaintop has proved difficult, as did tracking down a drilling rig and power generator that could be airlifted by helicopter.

At one point during the week, a search team found a narrow opening above the cave and dropped in food and other supplies. But there was no way to know whether it reached the soccer team.

The visit by the prime minister was a reflection of how significant the search and rescue operation has become for the country.

Many Thais have been captivated by the plight of the missing soccer team and there has been an outpouring of hope and support for the boys and the searchers.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun said he was following events closely, helping to focus the attention of government officials.

Prayuth, the head of Thailand’s military government, spoke with the family members for about 30 minutes, sometimes wandering to topics such as politics and which garden vegetables to plant.

He encouraged the parents to meditate to reduce their stress and at one point made them laugh with a joke about lottery numbers.

“He talked a lot,” said Kiang Khamluang, whose son Pornchai, 16, is one of the missing. “He talked about agriculture. He talked about other things because if he talked about the kids all the time then we would get more stressed.”

Aikan Vibulrungroj, whose son Chanin, 11, is the youngest of the group, added: “He also said that he won’t abandon the kids and the rescue team will work to help them out.”

“He told us to keep fighting,” Kiang said.