All 12 boys, football coach rescued from flooded Thailand cave
Bangkok, July 10: All the 12 boys and their football coach have been rescued from a flooded cave in northern Thailand after being trapped for 18 days, bringing an end to the ordeal that prompted a huge international rescue effort.
The coach was one of the last to be extricated from the cave on Tuesday in the rescue operation that began as a local search for the missing but turned into a complex mission, involving hundreds of experts who flew in from around the world to help, CNN reported.
"The 12 Wild Boars (name of their football club) and coach have emerged from the cave and they are safe," the Thai Navy Seal unit said on its official Facebook page. It added: "Hooyah."
The final day of the operation began just after 10 a.m. on Tuesday as the first eight boys, freed in operations on Sunday and Monday, recuperated at a hospital in nearest Chiang Rai city.
The 12 young footballers, aged between 11 and 16, and their 25-year-old coach got trapped on June 23 while exploring the Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand's Chiang Rai province after soccer practice and a rainy season downpour flooded the tunnel.
The boys were found inside the cave by British rescue divers a week ago, about 4 km from the cave mouth.
Thirteen foreign cave diving experts and five Thai Navy rescuers joined the first operation on Sunday that brought out four boys from the cave. Rescuers spent about 11 hours on the mission. Another four boys were brought out by the same team on Monday.
The remaining four boys and their coach were rescued on Tuesday and were sent to hospital by helicopters. They underwent X-rays and blood tests and will remain under observation in the hospital for at least seven days.
The news was greeted by global jubilation and the rescue workers were lauded. US President Donald Trump tweeted "great job" and British Prime Minister Theresa May said: "The world was watching and will be saluting the bravery of all those involved."
Overnight, entrepreneur Elon Musk posted on social media that he had personally delivered a child-sized submarine to the site which he had developed to assist with the operation, but it was unlikely to play a role.
In response, Narongsak Osatanakorn, the head of the joint command centre coordinating the operation, said: "Although his technology is good and sophisticated, it's not practical for this mission."
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
