Thai cave rescue: Trapped team and coach now free and receiving hospital treatment - as it happened

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Eighteen days after entering the caves on a team-bonding session, the remaining lost boys and their coach, as well as all rescue and medical personnel, emerged alive and well on Tuesday, following a daring and precarious operation, which saw one volunteer Navy seal lose his life.

Narongsak Osatanaskorn, the former governor who has led the rescue, made the official announcement at 9.45pm on Tuesday evening, after a tense few days of rescue missions.

“I never imagined this could happen – but we did it. We completed mission impossible,” the beaming rescue chief told a throng of hundreds of reporters and support crew, before stepping forth and inviting the crowd to join him and pose for photos.

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The team of expert divers from Thailand and around the world completed their improbable mission some 60 hours after a round-the-clock operation was launched on Sunday morning, as seasonal monsoon rains threatened to trap the boys and their coach inside the caves for months.

The 13 were stranded on a 10-square-metre ledge more than a mile inside the cave without proper food, water, sanitation or sunlight, until they were discovered by a pair of British divers on 2 July.

The jubilant rescue chief announced that the families of the five who came out of the cave today would be able to visit their loved ones this evening – a reversal on the previous two batches of four to emerge, who had to wait 24 hours to see theirs.

Gobchai Boon-orrana, the deputy director of Thailand’s department of disaster prevention and mitigation, was equally elated in addressing the crowd.

One of the lead hands on the mission, Mr Gobchai referred to those rescued as his “13 grandsons.”

He joked that Thailand now had a new internationally famous tourist attraction, following wall-to-wall coverage of the cave rescue right around the globe.

Finally, he paid tribute to Saman Gunan, the 38-year-old Navy Seal who lost his life in the caves leading up the eventual rescue, declaring him a hero of the Thai people and the world.

“May he rest in peace – the hero of Thung Luam,” Mr Gobchai said.

Jedsada Chokdumrongsuk, permanent secretary at the Public Health Ministry, said that recovery for the children is being carefully managed

"The kids are footballers so they have high immune systems," Mr Jedsada said. "Everyone is in high spirits and are happy to get out. But we will have a psychiatrist to evaluate them."

It could be at least seven days before they can be released from hospital, Mr Jesada told a news conference.

Mr Jedsada said they were uncertain what type of infections the boys could face "because we have never experienced this kind of issue from a deep cave."