A seventh boy from the Wild Boars football team has reportedly been taken to hospital and an eighth is “coming out” from the flooded caves in northern Thailand on Monday night.

Reuters reports about 10.07pm AEST that rescue workers have been seen carrying two more boys from the caves in what represents the second and third rescues of the night.

Shortly afterward The Guardian tweeted that rescuers had confirmed an eighth boy was also “coming out” soon.

CNN supported the claims.

“The four boys rescued from the cave in Thailand Monday were wearing full-face diving masks while they were carried out of the cave to the makeshift hospital nearby, according to an eyewitness who is part of the rescue operations stationed at the entrance of the cave,” it reported.

“He added that the boys were also wearing dive suits while being carried on stretchers and that their masks would be removed by medical staff at the makeshift hospital.”

About 30 minutes earlier, a source inside the rescue team confirmed to The Guardian that a second boy had made it out of the Tham Luang caves on Monday.

Two more ambulances were seen, leaving #Tham Luang cave. They are believed to transfer the 6th and 7th boys to hospital. @TNAMCOT pic.twitter.com/JuNszzXy5V

— TNAMCOT English (@TNAMCOTEnglish) July 9, 2018

Numerous media outlets, including BBC and CNN, reported that the first boy was carried on a stretcher from the scene between 4.30pm and 5pm local time (7.30pm-8pm AEST).

A Royal Thai Navy official confirmed the news to ABC News.

If the reports are correct, it would mean four boys and their Wild Boars coach remain to be rescued.

The second phase of the hazardous rescue operation began when divers entered the cave at 11am local time (2pm AEST).

Facing a “war with water and time” before a dangerous weather system strikes, head of the joint command centre co-ordinating the operation, Narongsak Osatanakorn, told a press conference the same divers who successfully extracted the first four boys on Sunday returned on Monday.

“The factors are as good as yesterday … The rescue team is the same team with a few replacements,” he said.

“The water level is not worrisome … Yesterday’s rain did not affect water levels inside the cave.”

It’s believed the strongest children will be rescued first.

Guardian journalist Michael Safi tweeted: “Asked which boys are coming out first, he says, “The perfect ones, the most ready ones”.

Meanwhile, the four boys rescued are being monitored in quarantine for 48 hours at Chiang Rai hospital.

They are believed to be Monhkol Boonpian, 13, Prajak Sutham, 14, Nattawoot Thakamasai, 11, and Pipat Bodhu, 15.

But local authorities have so far not confirmed the identities.

Mr Osatanakorn, who is heading the operation as Chiang Rai acting governor, said the initial rescue went “better than expected” and would resume once the air tanks and equipment throughout the cave complex were replenished.

The rescued boys, now believed to be the weakest of the group, were assessed by medical staff at the cave before being rushed to hospital.

While two of the children walked to ambulances with the aid of medical staff, at least one needed to be carried on a stretcher.

All four boys were safely delivered to hospital. Photo: Getty

Thai media reported one of the four boys was in a critical condition and a family friend told a reporter it was Boonpian, whose condition has since stabilised.

The operation to rescue the boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach by having them dive out of the flooded cave began on Sunday morning, with expert divers entering the sprawling complex for the complicated and dangerous mission.

Shortly before 8pm local time, Thai navy SEALs, who are taking part in the rescue operation, reported on their official Facebook page that four had been rescued.

“The operation went much better than expected,” he told a news conference, adding that the healthiest of the boys were taken out first.

“I would like to inform the public at home and those who have been giving us support all along, after 16 days, today’s the day we’ve been waiting for, we are seeing the Wild Boars in the flesh now.”

He said the next phase of the operation would start after 10 to 20 hours.

The entire operation to rescue all 13 could last two to four days, depending on weather and water conditions, army Major General Chalongchai Chaiyakam said.

Just after 9pm on Sunday, Thai navy SEALs posted a photo on their Facebook page of Thai and western divers clutching each other’s wrists saying: “Tonight, we can sleep well” in Thai, adding the military cry “Hooyah”.

Mr Narongsak said earlier on Sunday that 13 foreign and five Thai divers were taking part in the rescue and that two divers would accompany each boy as they were gradually extracted.

Six of the divers are with the Australian Federal Police, while another is Adelaide anaesthetist and cave diver Richard Harris, 53, and his diving partner.

They planned for two divers to accompany each boy back to the surface through the four kilometres of tight, muddy, water-filled passageways, some of which are less than a metre in diameter.

The rescue operation through the flooded cave is unprecedented. Photo: Royal Thai Navy

A spokesperson for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Dr Harris entered the cave on Saturday to check the boys’ health and has been working closely with on-site doctors.

While the initial plan was to extract the fittest boys first, Thai media reported that was reversed on the advice of Dr Harris.

“I think Narongsak and the commanders changed their minds after the Australian doctor inspected the boys’ health and mental state,” one senior Thai journalist said.

“They decided to take the weakest out first.”

Dr Harris was requested by other international divers at the cave site to join the rescue operation.

He has 30 years’ diving experience and was involved in the retrieval of the body of stunt diver Agnes Milowka who died at Millicent, South Australia, in 2011.

Four of the 12 boys trapped in a Thai cave for two weeks have been rescued alive and well.

This is how they were brought out:#ThaiCaveRescue https://t.co/6iRKogNNo4 pic.twitter.com/xBhxeCFeXt

— ITV News (@itvnews) July 8, 2018

Experienced cave rescue experts have described the underwater rescue “unprecedented” and had warned it would be a last resort, especially with people untrained in diving, as the boys are.

The path out is considered especially complicated because of twists and turns in narrow flooded passages.

But Mr Osatanakorn said earlier that mild weather and falling water levels over the past few days had created optimal conditions for an underwater evacuation that won’t last if it rains again.

The heavy rain that many had tipped started to fall mid-afternoon near the Tham Luang cave complex, where the rescue operation began on Sunday morning.

Having been evacuated with all other journalists and non-essential personnel from the cave around noon, Australian time, The Australian journalist Amanda Hodge tweeted at 6.22pm that the downpour had begun as rescuers continue to wage a war between “water and time”.

The torrential rain everyone has feared has arrived, drenching the media centre just kilometres from #Thamluangcave where a rescue mission is currently underway. pic.twitter.com/CGH8iA89vr

— amanda hodge (@hodgeamanda) July 8, 2018

Before announcing that the rescue was under way, authorities ordered the throngs of media that had gathered at the cave from around the world to leave.

The boys and their coach became stranded when they went exploring in the cave after a practice game on June 23. Monsoon flooding cut off their escape and prevented rescuers from finding them for almost 10 days.

See a 3D model of the Chang Rai cave complex below:

-with agencies