Arguably the 'most talked about' rescue mission in recent years, the story of a Thai youth soccer team and their coach trapped in the Tham Luang Cave, prompting a global rescue effort, gripped the world.
A team of 90 expert divers -- 40 from Thailand and 50 from overseas -- has been working in the cave system. They have been guiding the boys through darkness and submerged passageways towards the mouth of the Tham Luang cave system.
The mission is a battle against time and heavy rainfall prediction for the week, which is likely to flood tunnels once again, making the entire operation difficult to carry out.
In northern Thailand, hundreds of international rescue workers have been spending their last waking hours for the past 11 days trying to get a group of 12 boys, ages 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old soccer coach who have been trapped in a cave after flooding caused by relentless monsoon rains. On July 2, rescue teams discovered all of the boys and their coach alive and in relatively good health, sheltering deep inside the cave complex. Outside, family and friends, who had gathered, welcomed the news. While the boys have been found, extracting them from the cave still remains a difficult task -- much of the return trip is underwater and even though pumps are lowering the water level, the rainfall is not letting up. Here's what's happening and what officials are planning to get them out.
The rescuer, working in a volunteer capacity, died after running out of oxygen.
The rescued boys have been taken to a hospital by ambulances for medical treatment.
Kirlosker Brothers' Limited sent teams from its offices in India, Thailand and the United Kingdom to the site.
The rescued boys are said to be in "high spirits."
The boys, aged between 11 and 16, went missing with the 25-year-old after soccer practice on June 23 after they set out to explore the Tham Luang cave complex in a forest park near by the border with Myanmar.
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8 Thai boys were brought out of the over the first two days.
On June 23, the boys and their 25-year-old coach had entered the Tham Luang network of caves on a team outing. However, they were stranded following a heavy and continuous downpour that flooded the cave.
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Oxygen levels have dropped to 15 per cent and more rain is expected over the weekend, making the rescue efforts only that much more difficult.
All of the top news of the week gone by, in photos.
All of the top news of the week gone by, in photos.
The boys also played footballs with their other teammates and friends on a small makeshift pitch before the press conference.
Some of soccer's biggest names are cheering the rescue of 12 Thai boys and their coach from a flooded cave
It was an unprecedented challenge that required meticulous planning, innovative solutions and quick action.
As 2018 draws to a close and the white noise of 24-hour news cycles and Twitter storms fade into the background, it is already clear that history will remember only a handful of those people, each of whom has taught us something about ourselves and the rapidly changing world in which we live.
'The Thai junta, who immediately took control of the operations in a military manner, took the decision to involve the best world professionals for the rescue.' 'This made a huge difference.' 'It is highly probable that in India, the authorities would have said, "We have the expertise, we don't need foreign aid",' says Claude Arpi.
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