Four out of twelve boys have been rescued after they were trapped for more than two weeks inside a flooded cave in Thailand.
Ro Aram reports.
Officials believe the operation to rescue the youth football team is not as difficult as they initially thought.
The acting governor of Chiang Rai province said mild weather and falling water levels in recent days had created optimal conditions for an underwater evacuation.
But Sunday's extraction process was still risky and complicated.
Cave rescue experts had considered an underwater extraction to be a last resort, especially as most of the boys can't swim.
Eighteen divers, both local and foreign, guided the four boys to safety, swimming though narrow, submerged passageways that claimed the life of a former Thai navy diver on Friday.
The four boys, whose names were not released, were then transported to hospital.
Eight of the boys and their coach remain inside and their extraction was called off on Sunday night until the next day to give divers time to restock supplies.

….."We will be ready soon, because we will need to redo the laying out of all the air tanks and all systems along the way again. We have used everything in the set up that we had today. The set up team will do their work again once they are ready….."

However, monsoon rain and storms are expected in Chiang Rai over the next few weeks, which will certainly hamper rescue operations.
Water pumps have drained a significant amount of water out of the cave, but time is still of the essence.
Officials are hoping to get the remaining nine out within the next four days.
Ro Aram, Arirang News.