Thai provincial governor says all 12 boys and their coach found alive in cave

MAE SAI, Thailand (AP) — Thai provincial governor says all 12 boys and their coach found alive in cave where they went missing over a week ago.

EARLIER:

MAE SAI, Thailand (AP) — Rescue divers on Monday were making progress through a key passageway inside the flooded mountain cave in northern Thailand where 12 boys and their soccer coach have been missing for more than a week.

Thai navy SEALs said in a Facebook post early Monday that divers since Sunday night had reached a bend where the kilometer- (half-mile-) long passage splits in two directions. The divers are aiming for a sandy chamber on higher ground in the cave, where they believe the group would be safe.

The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach entered Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai province on June 23. Heavy rains that flooded key passages are believed to have trapped the soccer players and have thwarted the search for them.

Divers have been stymied again and again by muddy water rising filing sections of the cave and forcing them to withdraw for safety reasons. When water levels dropped Sunday, the divers went forward with a more methodical approach, deploying a rope line and extra oxygen supplies along the way.

"I hope that today we will continue to have another good day. It will be even better if everything else could run smoothly," Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn told reporters Monday. He said the passageway the divers are making their way through goes upward in some places and downward in others and is extremely narrow. It is difficult for divers with all their gear to fit through.

In addition to the divers, teams have been working to pump out water as well as divert groundwater. Other efforts have focused on finding shafts on the mountainside that might serve as a back door to the blocked-off areas where the missing may be sheltering.

Teams have been combing the mountainside looking for fissure that might lead to such shafts. Several have been found and explorers have been able to descend into some, but so far it is not clear whether they lead to anywhere useful.

Narongsak said they were focusing Sunday on two of the shafts.

Fortunately, they've been found...

(CNN) Rescue teams found all 12 boys and their coach alive in a cave in Thailand Monday, according to a high ranking person involved in the search and rescue operation. The boys, who range in age from 11 to 16 years old and are part of the same soccer team, have been missing for nine days.

A park officer first sounded the alarm after spotting the boys' bicycles near the entrance to the off-limits cave complex.

The cave labyrinth is popular with tourists and for the first kilometer (0.6 miles) or so inside the cavernous entrance, limestone rock formations hug high ceilings, creating an almost amphitheater-like atmosphere.

Late last week trekkers discovered a hidden opening deep in the jungle giving an alternative point of entry to the cave system.

The natural chimney, around 1.5 meters in diameter and at least 22 meters (72 feet) deep, was found to the north of the opening of the cave, where the boys' bikes were found last Saturday.

Developing story - more to come

"A park officer first sounded the alarm after spotting the boys' bicycles near the entrance to the off-limits cave complex."

Somebody gonna get into Trouble for that...!