How a team of 18 divers will rescue schoolboys and their soccer coach

THE DIVERS
At 10am on Sunday (11am WST) 18 divers entered the cave in Thailand’s northern province of Chiang Rai, where 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach have been trapped for two weeks. Thirteen of the divers are foreign, including eight Australians.

THE RETRIEVAL
Retrieving the boys from the muddy bank on which they took refuge requires a nearly 11-hour round trip through 4 km of winding, submerged pathways, tunnels and fast-flowing, freezing water. Some of the submerged tunnels are less than a metre high.

Two divers will gradually escort each boy out, one at a time. The earliest divers will emerge is 9pm on Sunday (10pm WST), but a Thai official says the rescue of all the boys could take up to four days.

AFTERMATH
Thirteen medical teams stand ready outside the cave, each with its own helicopter and ambulance, to assist each boy and their coach.

Medical staff have told Reuters their first assessments will focus on the boys’ breathing, signs of hypothermia and an airborne lung infection known as ’cave disease’.

If efforts over the next few days fail, authorities have not ruled out laying an oxygen line and leaving the boys inside the cave for months until monsoon rains clear.