Thai cave rescue: eight boys now freed after day two of rescue mission – as it happened

Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by blacknoun

The cartoon above, by the artist Sisidea, is being widely shared on Thai social media. It portrays each of the groups taking part in this operation using animals.

According to the illustrator, the leader of the operation, Narongsak Osatanakorn, is the elephant – the elephant being the symbol of Chiang Rai province. He is a white elephant too – signifying the rareness of his leadership abilities, the cartoonist says.

The wild boars are obviously the boys – that’s the name of their football team – while the white horses represent the volunteers. The seals are the Thai navy Seals who are coordinating this operation while the frogs represent the Thai and international divers.

The lions are the English divers, the kangaroos, the Australians. The Panda is the Chinese team, the cranes, the Japanese team and the moose are the Swedes. The tigers are the Burmese team and the brown elephants are the Laos specialists. The dogs represent the police and the Iron Man is Elon Musk.

And the birds – the ones flying the opposite direction to everyone else? They would be the media, and the Thai bloggers who have been criticising the operation. Ouch.

propargyl on July 9th, 2018 at 11:27 UTC »

I love that there is sufficient information for us to be excited, yet some privacy has been maintained.

TheWhiteOnyx on July 9th, 2018 at 10:06 UTC »

Great to hear that they are beating the time expectations for exiting the cave. I wonder how much of the journey is diving and how much is walking.

blacknoun on July 9th, 2018 at 10:05 UTC »

CNN is also reporting that a fifth boy has been seen being rescued from the cave. It cited a member of the rescue team who said a boy was seen on a stretcher at 4.27pm local time emerging from the entrance.

UPDATE:

Reports are now emerging of a sixth boy coming out.

The Thai prime minister was supposed to visit the site at 6pm but is now hanging around Chiang Rai so as not to disrupt the operation.

UPDATE 2:

Reports: seventh and eighth boy rescued

Reuters and CNN report a seventh and eighth boy being rescued, citing witnesses. The Guardian is trying to confirm these reports.

UPDATE 3:

CNN reports that the rescue operation has been suspended for today. The Guardian is trying to confirm this.

If confirmed it would leave four boys and their coach Ekaphol Chantawong inside the cave.

On Sunday the rescue operation was suspended after the first four boys were rescued. The authorities said the pause was to allow depleted oxygen levels in the cave to recover.