Mae Sai, Thailand—Twelve boys and their football coach trapped in a flooded Thai cave for nine days were found alive late Monday after a painstaking search by specialist divers who finally discovered the emaciated group on a mud embankment.
There had been no contact with the boys, aged between 11 and 16, since they went missing with their 25-year-old coach on June 23.
The massive international rescue effort had for days been hampered by heavy rains that flooded the Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand, blocking access to chambers where it was hoped the group would be found alive.
But late Monday Chiang Rai provincial governor broke the news of their rescue by naval divers, delighting a nation which has anxiously followed every twist and turn of the dramatic effort to save them.
“We found all 13 safe… we will take care of them until they can move,” Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters, who broke into spontaneous applause and cheering.
“We will bring food to them and a doctor who can dive. I am not sure they can eat as they have not eaten for a while.”
The condition of the group was not immediately clear after days underground.
But dramatic footage shared on the official Facebook page of the Thai Navy SEALS showed the skinny boys in oversized, mud-slicked football jerseys crowded together on a small mud cliff surrounded by water as rescuers finally found them.