Thailand cave rescue mission successful; all trapped boys, their coach evacuated safely

The high-risk Thailand cave rescue mission to evacuate a youth football team and their coach trapped in the flooded Tham Luang caves completed successfully on Tuesday after rescuers safely extracted all of them.

"All 12 'Wild Boars' and coach have been extracted from the cave," Thai Navy SEALs said in a Facebook post, adding "all are safe" and signing off with a simple "Hooyah".

Earlier in the day, the third phase of the operation to bring the remaining boys and their coach out of the cave started at around 10:08 am local time, Thailand cave rescue operation chief Narongsak Osottanakorn said in press conference.

However, the mission was not accomplished yet as a team of Thai Navy Seals, who trained the boys in basic swimming skills and accompanied them in the cave, was  still to come out.

As it happened:

#05:40 PM: Mission is not accomplished yet: Though the 12 boys and their coach who were trapped in the cave for the last 18 days were evacuated safely, the mission was not yet accomplished as a team of Thai Navy Seals, who accompanied the boys and taught them basic swimming skills were yet to come out. Read More Here

#05:20 PM: All are out safely: All the 12 young football players and their coach trapped in the cave for last 18 days have been evacuated safely. Happy faces all across the world. To celebrate the success of Thailand cave rescue Mission, we have something special for you where you can win exciting prizes by simply guessing the winner of Football World Cup Semifinal. Click Here To Participate In Football World Cup Contest And Win Exciting Prizes

#4:00 PM: 11 out, two to go: “The 9th Wild Boar was out of the cave at 4.06 pm (Local Time),” the Thai Navy Seals posted on Facebook on Tuesday, the projected final day of the mission. A source said the 10th followed shortly, followed by the 11th at 5.08pm (local time)," Thai Navy Seals said in a statement.

#03:30 PM: Another good news! Tenth boy rescued safely: After being trapped for 18 days, rescuers brought safely the tenth boy from the "Wild Boars" football team out of the cave, PTI quoted AFP sources as saying.

#02:50 PM: Ninth boy rescued from Thai cave: Thai rescuers brought a ninth boy out from the Tham Luang cave this afternoon, police and navy sources said. Some eyewitnesses said the boy was on a stretcher when he came out.  (PTI inputs)

#12:30 PM: Is coach responsible for the situation: Twenty-five-year-old Ekkapol Chantawong, the coach of the young footaball team who led the boys into the Tham Luang caves has apologised to their parents. There has been a raging debate in the country over whether he should be blamed for the situation. However, the parents of the boys trapped in the case said that they don't blame him.

#11:30 AM: Recap of Monday's mission: Earlier on Monday, four more boys were extracted safely in phase two of the treacherous rescue mission. So far, eight of the 13 people trapped in the flooded cave have been evacuated since Sunday.

#11:00 AM: A look back at the incident: Twelve young soccer players and their coach have been trapped inside the cave since June 23. They were found alive after nine days of massive search operation which involved experts from 7 countries, including the USA, the UK and Australia.

10:10 AM: Third phase of rescue mission begins: Thailand cave rescue operation chief Narongsak Osottanakorn confirmed that the operation to extract the remaining trapped boys and their coach has been started again.

#10:00 AM: Hello and welcome to News Nation live updates: News Nation reached ground zero to cover the world's toughest rescue mission being carried out in Thailand. The high-risk Thailand cave rescue mission to evacuate a youth football team and their coach entered third day on Tuesday. Our correspondent Peenaz Tyagi is on the ground zero reporting live from outside the Tham Luang caves. Stick with us as we provide you all the latest updates on the treacherous rescue mission.