Football legends praise rescue ‘heroes'

“The heroes are there, not at the World Cup – the kids, the divers and everyone involved in the rescue. For me, the World Cup comes second.” Mourinho

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has extended his congratulations to the 13 Mu Pa Academy football club members after they were rescued from a Chiang Rai cave on Tuesday.

Mourinho told Russian broadcaster RT that he was amazed at what has happened in Thailand.

“The heroes are there, not at the World Cup – the kids, the divers and everyone involved in the rescue. For me, the World Cup comes second.”

Other football celebrities and English Premiership champions have also expressed their congratulations to the Mu Pa team from Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai.

Arsenal’s German footballer Mesut Ozil tweeted at @MesutOzil1088: “All boys and their coach have made it out of the cave in Thailand safely.#NeverGiveUp”

Fresh from helping France to win the World Cup semi-final against Belgium, Les Bleus’ midfielder Paul Pogba dedicated the victory to the boys on Instagram.

“The victory goes to the heroes of the day, well done boys, you are strong,” he wrote.

Pogba’s club Manchester United announced on Facebook that the Mu Pa boys are invited to a game at the Old Trafford in the new season.

“We would be honoured to welcome the team from the Wild Boars Football Club and their rescuers to Old Trafford this coming season.”

The invitation should bring smiles to the faces of the 12 Thai boys and their coach who were trapped inside the cave in Chiang Rai for more than two weeks.

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Former England captain David Beckham also posted on Instagram to salute the rescue team, especially Saman Kunan who died during the operation.

“These boys are heroes, as is the coach, the men and the women who risked their lives rescuing them and the incredible Saman Kunan,” Beckham said.

As they have to spend a week at a hospital for recovery, they are unlikely to accept the invitation from Fifa president Gianni Infantino to the World Cup final in Russia this Sunday.

England’s defender Kyle Walker posted on Instagram asking for the address of the trapped boys because one of the victims wore England’s national jersey. 

“I’d like to send out shirts to them. Is there anyone who can help with an address?” asked Walker, whose team will face Croatia in the other World Cup semi-final tonight.

On Tuesday former English Premiership champions Leicester City released a clip saying in Thai “Mu Pa, klab baan” (Wild Boars, come home!).

Source - TheNation

#Thailand - Boys emerge from cave

Rescue mission tastes big success after circumstances were seen as most suitable to evacuate the boys all 13 stranded footballers likely to be brought out within next two days; 18 divers taking part in evacuation.

Four of the 13 young footballers trapped in the flooded Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai province were being evacuated yesterday, marking a major success in the complex rescue mission, said mission chief Governor Narongsak Osotthanakorn said at about 8.30pm.

The rescue operation for the remaining eight boys and their 25-year-old assistant coach will be conducted as soon as rescuers finish preparation and deploying relevant equipment including oxygen tanks in the cave, Narongsak said.

The process will spend about ten hours, he added.

At press time yesterday, the four boys were already receiving treatment at Chiangrai Hospital. 

Earlier, the Royal Thai Air Force’s Facebook fanpage “Air Force Media by Kawin AFU” was among the first to disclose the good news of the evacuation operation. The page informed that two boys, who were not identified, had been successfully brought out of the cave at around 6.10 pm, while another survivor had already reached the Navy SEALs’ operation base in the third chamber of the cave.

A military source said earlier that the first two boys who were brought out had already been transferred to the field hospital just outside the cave entrance for a medical check-up.

The source said the operation would be concluded in two days.

Former Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osotanakorn, who heads the rescue mission, told a press conference yesterday at 10am that operations had begun to evacuate all the trapped footballers out of the flooded cave, as all factors were suitable for the mission and all the stakeholders, including families of the survivors, had agreed to give the go-ahead.

Under the current operation plan, each trapped footballer is being escorted by two diving specialists through the entire length of the cave to the entrance. Along the way, they have to climb, squeeze themselves through narrow passages as well as dive through the heavily submerged sections of the cave.

The first survivors were able to finally leave the dark confines of the cave 16 days after they were all stranded. The 13 were caught in flash floods during a visit to the cave on June 23, but they managed to find a dry shelf where they remained without food for 10 days until they were located by specialist divers.

“We have finally reached the highest level of preparedness to bring all trapped survivors out of the cave, so we have to seize this perfect opportunity when we have the most readiness to execute this daring mission,” Narongsak said.

“This perfect situation will not last long, as within the next few days there will be storms and heavy rains in the area that can significantly increase flood levels inside the cave and endanger the trapped survivors and all the officers inside.”

Disclosing details of the evacuation plan, he revealed that a total of 18 diving specialists would participate in this mission – 13 are international specialists, while the other five are from Thailand.

They all have the necessary expertise and skills to perform evacuation operations in difficult situations and hostile environments such as inside the flooded cave, he assured.

The decision to go ahead with the operation comes before the arrival today of evacuation pods built by the engineers of SpaceX as assistance from the company’s founder Elon Musk to aid in the evacuation operation. “The major obstacles to our operation are water and time. We have raced against these two challenges since the first day and we still have to race against them on this mission too, so we cannot miss this chance to save these boys” Narongsak said. 

He said once the survivors are brought out of the cave, they would be taken into the field hospital for medical examination by 13 medical teams, one for each survivor, in order to determine how to treat them based on three categories: green for healthy, yellow for minor injuries, and red for critical injuries.

 

KEY EVENTS ON RESCUE OPERATION D-DAY

7.28am Chiang Rai deputy governor invites all relatives of trapped footballers to the operation command office.
9am All reporters are told to leave the Tham Luang cave.
10am Chiang Rai former governor announces launch of rescue operation.
10am First survivor begins exit dive, with two escorts.
Noon Reporters are told to leave area around Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital.
3pm Police close area around Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital to traffic.
5.10pm The first evacuated footballer to reach cave mouth. 
7.25pm Four footballers rescued at press time.

Source - TheNation

Thailand - World media moved back from cave as evacuation begins

Foreign media members on Sunday said they accepted an order by Thai authorities to move out of area outside the Tham Luang cave as evacuation of the footballers begins.

Foreign media are being evacuated four kilometres from the cave to ensure clear access. Journalists will be housed at the Tambon Pong Pha Administrative Organisation Office on Phaholyothin Road.

 The 12 teens and their football coach assistant have been trapped in the flooded cave since June 23, with experts from international allies joining with Thais to rescue the team in a race against water and time.

Local and international media have converged at the cave to keep the world up-to-date with the latest developments. 

Six days after the footballers were found safe deep in the cave network last Monday, authorities on Sunday launched the evacuation operation to bring them out.

Spanish television reporter Biel Calderon said he didn't mind the request that media move out of the way of officials and rescuers during the high-risk extraction.

Calderon agreed that a large group of media could harm the efficiency of the rescue operation and cause delays. He said he understood that there were reasons for such a request in the life-and-death situation and media needed to respect it.

 Russian TV reporter Andrey Pashin, who had been covering the story for the past four days from the cave entrance, said he felt positive about the authorities regulating the large number of media in the vicinity to ensure the rescuers are not blocked.

He hoped that, without a continuing media presence in the area, officials could work more efficiently and more quickly rescue the trapped youths.

 Pashin said he wasn't much worried much getting film for his news coverage, because he believed that officials were working to address the issue. He hoped that the Thai authorities would ensure all media have equal access to information and pictures and that any news and images obtained by journalists would be pooled and shared among all other media workers.

The Thai authorities on Saturday began limiting the media’s access at the front of the cave, but some journalists had ventured under the rope fence to report the news.

This led to an official order being issued at 7am on Sunday to reclaim the area outside cave. Media members, along with volunteers and officials not vital to the rescue efforts, were to be cleared from and kept way from the area by 9am.

Many reporters negotiated to remain, while others moved as ordered to crowd the Tambon Pong Pha Administrative Organisation Office area.

Source - TheNation 

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