Thailand Cave Rescue: Four boys evacuated safely; next phase of operation to resume today

The "high risk" operation to evacuate 12 Thailand footballers and their coach trapped in Tham Luang caves has concluded for the day and will resume in the next 10 to 20 hours, according to operation chief Narongsak Osottanakorn.

Rescue workers will now need another 10 hours to prepare for the next phase of this unprecedented operation as they have used all the oxygen to evacuate four out of thirteen footballers from the flooded cave of Chiang Rai.

Addressing a press conference in Thailand, Narongsak said four boys had been evacuated safely and sent to Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital ao far. The remaining nine are still inside the cave and will be evacuated during the second phase of the operation on Monday morning.

A group of thirteen medical teams and over 90 drivers have been carrying out the operation since 10 am in order to rescue four boys from Tham Luang caves in Thailand.

"90 divers, 50 of them foreigners, had taken part in Sunday's operation starting at 10 am," the rescued chief was quoted.

Following Sunday's rescue operation, all of the four evacuated boys were airlifted around 50 miles to the Chiang Rai Prachanukroh hospital. Five emergency response doctors were awaiting the party and a further 30 doctors were on standby to provide services to the team.

One of the four boys rescued from the cave is being "closely monitored".

The boys travelled 1 km underwater with the first coming out at 5:40 pm local time. The second round of operation is expected to resume on Monday at 8 am local time.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump took to Twitter to announce that his government is working closely with the Thai government to help evacuate the cave. He also paid tribute to the rescue team describing them "Very brave and talented people!".

Read | NN Exclusive: Thailand Cave Rescue LIVE updates from the ground zero

The U.S. is working very closely with the Government of Thailand to help get all of the children out of the cave and to safety. Very brave and talented people," Trump wrote on Twitter.

The U.S. is working very closely with the Government of Thailand to help get all of the children out of the cave and to safety. Very brave and talented people!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 8, 2018

During the rescue process, the area outside the hospital had been cordoned off and police were patrolling the area. On the street leading to the hospital, vendors were also ordered to "keep off the road" and to "not obstruct the transfer mission".

The Thailand cave rescue operation is touted as "one of the greatest rescue operations in history".

Watch the Tham Luang caves rescue operation LIVE from Thailand with Peenaz Tyagi only on News Nation. You can also log in to www.newsnation.in for all the latest updates on Thailand cave rescue operation.