MAE SAI, Thailand: Elite divers on Sunday began the extremely dangerous operation to extract 12 boys and their football coach who have been trapped in a flooded cave complex in northern Thailand for more than two weeks, as looming monsoon rains threatened the rescue effort.
The “Wild Boars” team has been stuck in a cramped chamber several kilometers (miles) inside the Tham Luang cave complex since June 23, when they went in after football practice and were hemmed in by rising waters.
Their plight has transfixed Thailand and the rest of the world, as authorities have struggled to devise a plan to get the boys and their coach out through twisting, narrow and jagged passageways that in some places are completely flooded.
“Today is the D-day. The boys are ready to face any challenges,” rescue chief Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters near the cave site as weather forecasters warned of more monsoon rains late on Sunday that would cause more flooding in the cave.
Narongsak said the first boy was expected to be brought out of the cave by around 9:00 p.m. (1400 GMT), meaning the trip would take around 11 hours.
The boys, aged from 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach were found disheveled and hungry by British cave diving specialists nine days after they ventured in.
But initial euphoria over finding the boys alive quickly turned into deep anxiety as rescuers raced to find a way to get them out, with Narongsak at one point dubbing the effort “Mission Impossible.”
The death of a former Thai Navy Seal diver who ran out of oxygen in the cave on Friday underscored the danger of the journey even for adept professionals.
Saman Kunan had been trying to establish an air line in a flooded area with oxygen tanks when he passed out and perished.
After a short deluge of rain on Saturday night and with more bad weather forecast, Narongsak on Sunday said authorities had to act immediately.
“There is no other day that we are more ready than today,” he said. “Otherwise we will lose the opportunity.”
Between the operating base manned by Thai Navy Seals inside the cave and the trapped boys are twisting, turning cave passageways with torrents of water gushing through.
The water in the cave is muddy and unclear, with one diver comparing it to a cafe latte. Ropes have been installed to help guide the boys through the darkness.
Narongsak said Sunday two divers would accompany each of the boys out of the cave.
Rescuers had fed a kilometers-long air pipe into the cave to restore oxygen levels in the chamber where the team was sheltering with medics and divers.
More than 100 exploratory holes had also been bored — some shallow, but the longest 400 meters deep — into the mountainside in an attempt to open a second evacuation route and avoid forcing the boys into the dangerous dive.
On Saturday, Thai Navy SEALS published touching notes scrawled by the trapped footballers to their families, who had been waiting for them agonizingly close by outside the cave entrance.
The boys urged relatives “not to worry” and asked for their favorite food once they were safely evacuated, in notes handed to divers.
In one, Pheerapat, nicknamed “Night,” whose 16th birthday the group were celebrating in the cave when they became stuck on June 23, said: “I love you, Dad, Mum and my sister. You don’t need to be worried about me.”
The coach, Ekkapol Chantawong, who many Thais have criticized for leading the boys into the cave, also apologized.
“To all the parents, all the kids are still fine. I promise to take the very best care of the kids,” he said in a note given to divers on Friday.
“Thank you for all the moral support and I apologize to the parents.”
Rescue efforts for boys trapped in Thai cave begin
Rescue efforts for boys trapped in Thai cave begin
- The ‘Wild Boars’ team has been stuck in a cramped chamber several kilometers inside the Tham Luang cave complex since June 23
- The coach, Ekkapol Chantawong, who many Thais have criticized for leading the boys into the cave, has apologized
Zelensky visits Kharkiv in show of support for city pounded by Russian strikes
- The Ukrainian leader met senior military leaders in the city and traveled to the site of a major printing house a day after it was destroyed
- “I also received updates on defense operations, particularly in the Vovchansk area, as well as the recovery of damaged energy infrastructure,” Zelensky said on X
KHARKIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv on Friday as it faces intensified Russian air attacks amid an offensive push by Moscow’s forces into the north of the surrounding region.
The Ukrainian leader met senior military leaders in the city and traveled to the site of a major printing house a day after it was destroyed in a Russian missile attack that killed at least seven people.
“Today I am in Kharkiv... I also received updates on defense operations, particularly in the Vovchansk area, as well as the recovery of damaged energy infrastructure,” Zelensky said on X.
Russian forces launched a cross-border assault on May 10, driving toward the border town of Vovchansk on one line of attack and pushing toward the village of Lyptsi on the other.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s top commander, said on Thursday that Russian forces were locked in street fighting in Vovchansk and that they had moved onto a defensive footing near Lyptsi.
Russia says it wants to set up a “buffer” zone in the region in what it calls a response to Kyiv’s shelling of Russian border regions such as Belgorod. Russia frequently launches air strikes on Ukraine from the region of Belgorod.
The assault opened a new front in the war in what Kyiv said was an effort to divert its outnumbered troops from the east where the fiercest fighting is taking place.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city which lies some 30 km from the border with Russia, and the surrounding region have faced daily missile, drone and guided bomb strikes for months.
Most of the energy infrastructure has been severely damaged in the city, which is still home to around 1.3 million people.
“The entire city and region of Kharkiv deserve our support, gratitude, and respect,” Zelensky said.
Barcelona sack Xavi as manager
- “Barcelona wish to thank Xavi for his work as coach,” the club said in a statement
MADRID: Barcelona have sacked manager Xavi Hernandez, the LaLiga club said on Friday, four weeks after confirming him in the job for the 2024-25 campaign.
“Today Friday, FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta has informed Xavi Hernandez that he will not be continuing as first team coach in the 2024-25 season,” Barcelona said in a statement.
“Barcelona wish to thank Xavi for his work as coach, as well as for his inimitable career as a player and as team captain, and wishes him every future success in the world.
“He will be coaching the team for the last time in Sunday’s game away to Sevilla.”
Sunak urged to ‘safeguard’ UK vote against foreign interference
- Letter highlighted findings from security officials that it was “almost certain” Russian actors sought to interfere in the UK’s 2019 vote
- That interference could include cyberattacks, blackmailing of lawmakers, spreading of disinformation online — including AI “deep fakes”
LONDON: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “must be prepared for the possibility of foreign interference” in the election campaign ahead of the July 4 vote, parliament’s security committee warned on Friday.
Margaret Beckett, chair of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS), wrote in a letter to Sunak that there had been a “pattern of attempted foreign interference from countries such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea” in recent years.
The letter highlighted findings from security officials that it was “almost certain” Russian actors sought to interfere in the UK’s 2019 vote, and that China was seeking to influence democratic processes overseas.
“It is our view that the UK must be prepared for the possibility of foreign interference” during the July 4 general election, it added.
That interference could include cyberattacks, blackmailing of lawmakers, spreading of disinformation online — including AI “deep fakes” — and sowing of division on controversial topics.
The government should help educate the public to identify disinformation and ensure the safety of elected politicians, advised the committee.
Beckett, a former foreign secretary in Tony Blair’s Labour government, urged Sunak “to identify any last actions that can be taken collectively in the national interest” before the current parliament is dissolved next week.
Advancements in AI and the deepening of hostilities between the West and nations such as Russia have led experts to warn of an unprecedented threat ahead of the key elections in the UK and the United States this year.
Food bound for Gaza rots in the sun as Egypt’s Rafah crossing stays shut
- Trucks halted since Israel stepped up offensive in Rafah
- Some supplies stuck for more than two months
- Health warning issued for some food inside Gaza
AL-ARISH, Egypt: Some of the food supplies waiting to enter the Gaza Strip from Egypt have begun to rot as the Rafah border crossing remains shut to aid deliveries for a third week and people inside the Palestinian enclave face worsening hunger.
Rafah was a main entry point for humanitarian relief as well as some commercial supplies before Israel stepped up its military offensive on the Gazan side of the border on May 6 and took control of the crossing from the Palestinian side.
Egyptian officials and sources say humanitarian operations are at risk from military activity and that Israel needs to hand the crossing back to Palestinians before it starts operating again.
Israel and the United States have called on Egypt, which is also worried about the risk of Palestinians being displaced from Gaza, to allow the border to reopen.
Meanwhile the backlog of aid on the road between the Egyptian side of the crossing and the town of Al-Arish, about 45 km (28 miles) west of Rafah and an arrival point for international aid donations, has been building up.
One truck driver, Mahmoud Hussein, said his goods had been loaded on his vehicle for a month, gradually spoiling in the sun. Some of the foodstuffs are being discarded, others sold of cheap.
“Apples, bananas, chicken and cheese, a lot of things have gone rotten, some stuff has been returned and is being sold for a quarter of its price,” he said, crouching under his truck for shade.
“I’m sorry to say that the onions we’re carrying will at best be eaten by animals because of the worms in them.”
Aid deliveries for Gaza through Rafah began in late October, two weeks after the start of the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The flow of relief has often been slowed by Israeli inspections and military activity inside Gaza and the amount reaching the enclave’s 2.3 million residents has been far below needs, aid officials say.
A global hunger monitor has warned of imminent famine in parts of Gaza.
Rotten eggs
Since May 5, no trucks have crossed through Rafah and very few through the nearby Israeli crossing of Kerem Shalom, according to UN data.
The amount of aid waiting in Egypt’s northern Sinai was now very large, and some had been stuck for more than two months, said Khaled Zayed, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent in the area.
“Some aid packages require a certain temperature ... We coordinate on this with specialists who are highly trained in the storage of food and medical supplies,” he said.
“We hope the border will reopen as soon as possible.”
KSrelief, a Saudi-funded charity, has more than 350 trucks carrying items including food and medical supplies waiting to pass through Rafah, but has had to offload flour because of the risk of it rotting, the group’s supervisor general Abdullah Al Rabeeah said.
“We pack and send but also we have to recheck. It is a big burden,” he told Reuters.
Some food has been sold at cut price on the local market in northern Sinai, leading to the confiscation of stocks of rotten eggs, said local officials from Egypt’s ministry of supply.
Inside Gaza, there have also been scares about the quality of delayed food deliveries that made it in before Rafah closed, or through other crossings.
Palestinian medical and police officials that used to check goods coming into Gaza had been unable to do so during Israel’s offensive, said Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office.
“There is a big problem as many of the goods that enter the Gaza Strip are unfit for human use and are unhealthy,” he said.
“Therefore, the health ministry issued the warning statement to raise public awareness that people should examine the goods before eating them or sharing them with their families.” (Reporting by Reuters Cairo bureau, Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Emma Farge Writing by Aidan Lewis Editing by Peter Graff)
Macron to host Arab foreign ministers for Gaza talks
Joined by his own top diplomat Stephane Sejourne, Macron will discuss the situation with Qatar’s Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Egypt’s Sameh Shoukry, Ayman Safadi of Jordan and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, the Elysee said.
