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Trapped Thai boys smile in new video, as debate rages about their rescue

The trapped boys introduce themselves to the world on a new video released on Wednesday.

The trapped boys introduce themselves to the world on a new video released on Wednesday. Photo: Facebook

The Thai Navy has released a video of the soccer teammates stranded six kilometres underground, as rescuers debate the best – and quickest – way to get them out of the cave.

Despite being trapped for more than a week in the partly flooded cave, the 12 boys and their coach say they are healthy.

In the video, they introduce themselves individually, with the camera turning to show a Thai Navy SEAL with them. They smile at times and interact with the SEAL, who asks questions.

Some appeared to have changed their clothes since they were found after a desperate week-long search late on Monday. Most were wrapped in foil warming blankets.

The video, which is about a minute long, was recorded on Tuesday and posted on the navy SEAL Facebook page on Wednesday.

Thai Navy SEALs commander Rear Admiral Arpakorn Yookongkaew said seven members of his unit – including a doctor and a nurse – are with the boys and their coach. They will stay with them around the clock, monitoring their health and building their strength for the eventual effort to help them get out.

He said his team had “given the boys food, starting from easily digested and high-powered food with enough minerals”.

One of the boys, Duangpetch Phromthep, reportedly also celebrated his 14th birthday on Tuesday. His mother, Pichaya Keawkemtong, posted a jubilant message on social media.

thai soccer cave

Duangpetch Phromthep, one of the stranded boys, celebrates an earlier birthday. Photo: Facebook/Pichaya Keawkemtong

“Happy birthday, Dom, I hope you are very happy,” she posted, alongside pictures of him with a birthday cake.

“You are almost out. I’m so happy. Dom’s birthday is the day that Dom is very lucky.”

But officials say getting the boys out won’t be a quick process.

Rescuers are studying how to extract them safely, ahead of forecast heavy monsoonal rain. There are fears it could exacerbate flooding in the cave where the boys and their coach are sheltering.

This might possibly force authorities to have them swim out through a narrow, underwater passage, a top official said.

The group entered the cave in northern Thailand on June 23 before flooding cut off the main entrance. The search effort has drawn international help, including teams from Australia, China, Britain and the US.

Rescue crews have brought in heavy equipment to pump 10,000 litres an hour of water from the sprawling cavern complex. But this is reducing floodwaters by only a centimetre an hour – and more rain is forecast.

Thai Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda said it was clear that some areas of the sprawling cavern could not be drained. To get the boys and their coach out ahead of forecast bad weather might require diving equipment and guidance by professional divers, he said.

That poses its own problems. Reportedly, none of the boys know how to swim – let alone dive – and this would be diving in the most extreme conditions.

The national director of the Cave Divers Association of Australia, Peter Wolf, told the ABC that teaching the team to dive might not be realistic.

“There’s probably only a handful of cave divers in the world that would have been able to find them … I don’t think teaching them [the boys] to dive is a viable option,” he said.

Australian cave diver and engineer Ron Allum said even for an experienced diver, the journey through the dark, muddy and freezing water would be “quite scary”.

“If they have got lights, all you will find is a brown glow in front of you. They have got no visual reference,” he said.

Big sections of the passage out of the cave are extremely narrow, big enough for only one person at a time.

Rescuers are also worried that the boys – aged 11-16 – will panic in dangerous sections of the three-hour trip out of the cave.

Mr Allum told RN Breakfast that panic could set in when the boys dived into the strong currents of the floodwaters and felt they were out of control.

“It would be very disconcerting for them to face that situation,” he said.

“If there is any apprehension there I wouldn’t even attempt it. Unless there is horrendous weather forecast, they can wait, that’s the safest option.”

But that might mean waiting as long as October for the end of the monsoon and the floodwaters to recede.

-with agencies

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