Mission to rescue boys from Thai cave underway
Bangkok, July 8 : A perilous mission to evacuate 12 boys and their 25-year-old coach trapped deep inside a flooded cave in northern Thailand was underway on Sunday, according to authorities.
"Our readiness is at the highest today. Today is D-day," said Chiang Rai Governor, Narongsak Osotthanakorn.
At 10 a.m., an international contingent of 13 specialist divers descended into the watery network of underground tunnels below the Mae Sai mountains.
Rescuers have described the mission as a dwindling window of opportunity, with forecasters predicting the return of heavy monsoon rains in the coming days, effectively sealing off the Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex until October.
At the site of the caves, volunteers assisting in the operation described the rescue attempt as a "now or never" scenario.
The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach, are huddled together in a small chamber 4 km inside the cave, surrounded by flood water and with a limited supply of oxygen.
To reach them, divers will need to successfully navigate a network of sprawling narrow tunnels, with officials close to the operation suggesting rescuers will use a "buddy" system, with each diver paired with a child.
Extra oxygen tanks will also be positioned along the route, CNN reported.
On the road leading to the tunnels, a near continuous convoy of trucks and military vehicles delivered troops and medical equipment equipment, including a large cache of oxygen tanks .
On Saturday evening, numerous international military advisers could be seen entering the site, followed later by four monks.
Even if the divers are successful, it will be many hours before the fate of the boys and their rescuers will be known.
Thai authorities say it takes around 11 hours for divers to complete the round trip.
The boys went missing on June 23 after they had entered the cave complex during fine weather but became trapped when a sudden downpour flooded the narrow tunnels.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
