Thai navy Seals have found the group in the six-mile Tham Luang Nang Non cave ‘all with signs of life’ but the rescue team now face a number of challenges
Video
The Thai Navy has released footage of rescuers trying to reach a group of 12 boys and their football coach, who have been missing since 23 June.
The search has been hampered by low visibility and narrow tunnels.
Never miss a great news story!
Get instant notifications from Economic Times
AllowNot now
You can switch off notifications anytime using browser settings.
Monsoon rains are pouring on to the jungle where rescuers are desperately trying to save 12 boys trapped in flooded caves in northern Thailand.
The boys - a football team of children aged between 11 and 15 - and their coach have been trapped in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex in Chiang Rai province for 10 days.
Workers have been pumping water out, racing against the clock and hoping to make the conditions inside the cave safer for the boys and for expert divers to make their way towards them.
Image: Divers are searching the cave complex
Rescue divers say they are making progress, having reached a bend where a half-mile passageway splits in two directions.
They are aiming for a chamber on higher ground, called Pattaya Beach, where they hope the boys and the 25-year-old coach have taken refuge.
But the search has been hampered by rising water that has flooded some areas of the cave complex, and rescuers are now battling more heavy rain.
Sky's Lisa Holland, who is at the cave entrance, said: "The heavens have absolutely opened here.
"Anyone who's ever spent any time in Asia will know that during the monsoon season here, there is something quite extraordinary about monsoon rains. They are fierce. It is literally as if the rain is jumping off the road."
Image: Rescuers carry equipment in to help the rescue mission
She went on: "Rain is absolutely the last thing that the rescue workers need.
"Remember, those 12 missing schoolboys and their coach are believed to be trapped underground in flooded caves, so they want the water levels to go down.
"They are frantically trying to pump water out of the caves but at the same time fighting the elements... massive downpours of rain."
Authorities are unsure whether the boys are still alive but their families are camped at the cave entrance, praying for good news and for their safe return.
Holland added: "There have been no signs of life for 10 days now and of course, that's devastating for the families who are gathered here at the site of the entrance to the cave, because they know that with every day that passes the chances of those boys coming out alive will diminish."
Medical teams have been practising drills to treat survivors and airlift them from a makeshift helipad.
Australian police and military have joined other international teams in the rescue mission.
