Boys will be extracted when it is 90% readiness

CHAING RAI, July 5 (TNA) – The boys and their coach will be extracted from the flooded cave complex when it is 90 per cent readiness, said Phayao Governor Narongsak Osottanakorn. The governor, who heads the command center in the Tham Lung rescue operation, told the press in his daily briefing that if it is 90 per cent readiness, the extraction of the trapped boys will start. It cannot be waited for 100 per cent readiness as more rain is coming in the next few days and it will pose risks for possible worse flooding in the cave, he said. The main mission today is pumping the water from the cave and draining underground water from the cave’s surrounding areas. The authorities call for people, who drain or divert the water by themselves with good intention to help the rescue teams, to stop doing so as it could affect the systematical water drainage plan and the water could flow back into the cave. Meanwhile, the Third Army Deputy Commander, Maj Gen Chalongchai Chayacam said the Navy SEAL reported the air inflow into the cave through a chimney. Officials are searching for a shaft on the mountainside to find another passageway, which could be possibly used to extract the boys and their coach from the cave. The only entrance of the cave takes rescuers about six hours to reach the ledge where the boys have been sheltering and it takes about five hours to return to the cave entrace. (TNA)