Additional navy SEALs deployed to rescue site at Tham Luang cave

CHIANG RAI, July 2 (TNA) - Navy chief Admiral Naris Prathumsuwan ordered additional 20 navy SEAL officials be deployed to intensify the search operation at the Tham Luang cave in Tham Luang Khun Nam Nang Noon Forest Park in Chiang Rai. Currently, 84 SEAL personnel are on duty in the search mission. They have worked with international cave-diving experts and military contingents from the US, Australia, England and China. Rescuers are stationed at the third chamber from the entrance of the cave and are moving to the fourth chamber, called Pattaya Beach. Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osottanakorn said on Monday morning that the divers target to pass the crisis point at the T- junction, which is up and down slopes in a single narrow channel today. The rescue teams plan to open the way, obstructed by muddy water, heading towards the Pattaya Beach chamber, about 1.5 kilometres away, where the missing group may be sheltering. Another team will also separate to search the other direction from the T-junction. Meanwhile, the Agriculture Minister Kritsada Boonrat instructed officials to conduct survey on farmlands, flooded by the water drainage from the Tham Luang cave to support the search mission. Farmers will be given compensation under the disaster rehabilitation regulation. (TNA)