Thai officials leading a massive effort to rescue 12 boys and their assistant football coach from a flooded cave said Sunday they had set up a working base deep inside a passageway and expressed optimism about their progress as bad weather eased.
Monsoon rains have complicated the frantic search for the children, aged 11 to 16, and the coach who have not been heard from since they ventured into the Tham Luang cave last Saturday in northern Thailand and were blocked by heavy rains.
But a break in the wet weather and the establishment of a forward operating base inside the twisting chambers has raised hopes that the 13 could be located and tended to soon.
"Today what we have to do is to rush to the kids," Thai Navy Seal commander and Rear Admiral Apakorn Yookongkaew told reporters at the site. "We will not stop until we find them."
Responders are placing extra oxygen tanks along the walls and lighting in hopes that they can provide a path to an airy chamber called Pattaya Beach where officials believe the team may have taken shelter.
The base will also help rescuers bring the boys out if and when they are found, and provide them with immediate food and medical assistance.
"We have a plan today for the next process after the rescue. We have a plan about what to do, how the treatment will be," Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osottanakorne said, adding that they were also exploring entering the cave by drilling from above.
The upbeat attitude comes after a week of heavy rains that pounded the area near the Myanmar and Laos borders, making it difficult to reach deeper into the 10-kilometre-long (six-mile) recesses of Tham Luang.
"I'm feeling happy like I've never felt in a long time. Many good signs," the football team's head coach Nopparat Khanthavong, 37, told AFP on Sunday.
"The rain has stopped and rescue teams have found potential ways to reroute the waterway," diverting its flow so no more enters the cave, he said. "The families are feeling much better too."
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Read more:
The mission to save the boys begins - live updates
Thai cave rescue: everything we know so far
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Thailand bids final goodbye to beloved King Bhumibol
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The dramatic wait has transfixed Thailand, dominating front pages of newspapers and grabbing international headlines.
Teams of foreign experts from Australia, England, Japan and China, including more than 30 US military personnel, have descended on the remote mountainous site to join some 1,000 Thai rescuers.
Outside the main entrance other searchers were trying to find a way into the cave through separate chimneys, and rescue personnel conducted mock operations in case they should find the boys and need to rush them to hospital.
Large water pumps were also installed in a nearby village to drain water from the area.
Tham Luang is one one of Thailand's longest and toughest caves to navigate, but drilling experts hope its limestone formations could mean a series of holes and alternative entrances that could possibly be explored by camera.
"We still expect some difficulties, because we have to drill not vertical, but inclined," Suthisak Soralump, a geotechnical engineer leading up drilling efforts, told AFP. "But anyway we put our best team in Thailand to come. So let us try."
Officials said the boys know the site well and have visited many times before, so they may have been able to take refuge above the floodwaters.
Rescuers found footprints and handprints in a chamber earlier in the week, farther in from where they had found the kids' football boots, backpacks and bicycles.
Relatives and friends have held vigils and prayed for their safe return.
"I miss them," said 15-year-old Thananchai Saengtan, a friend of a player. "I want them to come back so we can play football together again."
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Price, base: Dh141,740 (three-door) / Dh165,900 (five-door)
Engine: 1.5-litre four-cylinder (Cooper) / 2.0-litre four-cylinder (Cooper S)
Power: 136hp @ 4,500rpm (Cooper) / 192hp @ 5,000rpm (Cooper S)
Torque: 220Nm @ 1,480rpm (Cooper) / 280Nm @ 1,350rpm (Cooper S)
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 4.8L to 5.4L / 100km
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
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Key findings
- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Regional Qualifier
The top three teams progress to the Asia Qualifier
Final: UAE beat Qatar by nine wickets
Third-place play-off: Kuwait beat Saudi Arabia by five runs
Table
1 UAE 5 5 0 10
2 Qatar 5 4 1 8
3 Saudi 5 3 2 6
4 Kuwait 5 2 3 4
5 Bahrain 5 1 4 2
6 Maldives 5 0 5 0
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
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Company%20Profile
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FINAL SCORES
Fujairah 130 for 8 in 20 overs
(Sandy Sandeep 29, Hamdan Tahir 26 no, Umair Ali 2-15)
Sharjah 131 for 8 in 19.3 overs
(Kashif Daud 51, Umair Ali 20, Rohan Mustafa 2-17, Sabir Rao 2-26)
Packages which the US Secret Service said contained possible explosive devices were sent to:
- Former first lady Hillary Clinton
- Former US president Barack Obama
- Philanthropist and businessman George Soros
- Former CIA director John Brennan at CNN's New York bureau
- Former Attorney General Eric Holder (delivered to former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz)
- California Congresswoman Maxine Waters (two devices)
Company%20profile
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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
Result
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 – Group 1 (PA) $65,000 (Dirt) 2,000m; Winner: Brraq, Ryan Curatolo (jockey), Jean-Claude Pecout (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap (TB) $65,000 (Turf) 1,800m; Winner: Bright Melody, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby
7.40pm: Meydan Classic – Listed (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Naval Crown, Mickael Barzalona, Charlie Appleby
8.15pm: Nad Al Sheba Trophy – Group 3 (TB) $195,000 (T) 2,810m; Winner: Volcanic Sky, Frankie Dettori, Saeed bin Suroor
8.50pm: Dubai Millennium Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (T) 2,000m; Winner: Star Safari, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
9.25pm: Meydan Challenge – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Zainhom, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, semi-final result:
Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona
Liverpool win 4-3 on aggregate
Champions Legaue final: June 1, Madrid
SERIE A FIXTURES
Friday Sassuolo v Torino (Kick-off 10.45pm UAE)
Saturday Atalanta v Sampdoria (5pm),
Genoa v Inter Milan (8pm),
Lazio v Bologna (10.45pm)
Sunday Cagliari v Crotone (3.30pm)
Benevento v Napoli (6pm)
Parma v Spezia (6pm)
Fiorentina v Udinese (9pm)
Juventus v Hellas Verona (11.45pm)
Monday AC Milan v AS Roma (11.45pm)
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
Bookshops: A Reader's History by Jorge Carrión (translated from the Spanish by Peter Bush),
Biblioasis
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
