Rescuers raced to pump water from a cave in northern Thailand on Tuesday as forecast heavy rain threatened to complicate efforts to free a young soccer team trapped there for 10 days, an ordeal officials warned they may have to bear longer.
Divers struggled through narrow passages and murky waters to find the 12 boys and their coach late Monday night on an elevated rock about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the mouth of the cave.
Aged between 11 and 16, the boys and their 25-year-old coach went missing after soccer practice on June 23, when they set out to explore the Tham Luang cave complex in a forest park near Thailand's northern border with Myanmar.
The team members were found in weak but stable physical condition.
News of the boys' survival sparked jubilation in a nation that has been gripped by the harrowing drama.
Two British divers with strong experience in cave rescues, John Volanthen and Rick Stanton, were the first to reach the boys, according to Bill Whitehouse of the British Cave Rescue Council.
Along with a team of Thai navy SEAL divers, they found the group.
The boys have received high-protein liquid food, officials said Tuesday, though it is not known when they will be able to leave the cave, as the flooding requires them to dive in order to emerge.
Search and rescue teams taking part in the efforts to save the missing team have been relying on advanced communications systems donated by Israeli company MaxTech Networks.
MaxTech CEO and founder Uzi Hanuni told Israel Hayom on Monday that the rescue teams had approached the company's representative in Thailand seeking assistance.
Hanuni said Thai authorities approved the purchase of the MaxTech system, but he had instructed the representative to provide it for free.
"There's a guy by the name of Assaf who lives in Thailand and he markets our systems," Hanuni said. "They approached him and said they want them. The systems facilitate communication in areas without reception. We gave them our devices and they took them into the cave. This is our Israeli contribution. We did it voluntarily."
Hanuni and his business partner made the decision to donate the devices despite their high cost.
"The systems cost upwards of $100,000. And we are a tiny company with nothing. The company lives on its sales," he said.
Video released early Tuesday by the Thai navy showed the boys in their soccer uniforms sitting on a dry area inside the cave above the water as a spotlight, apparently from a rescuer, illuminated their faces.
Chiang Rai provincial governor Narongsak Osatanakorn said the conditions of the boys and coach were checked using a field assessment that uses red for critical, yellow for serious, and green for stable.
"We found that most of the boys are in green condition," he said. "Maybe some of the boys have injuries or light injuries and would be categorized as yellow condition. But no one is in red condition."
When the group will be able to leave the cave is not known due to flooding and other factors that could make their extraction dangerous. Experts have said it could be safer to simply supply them where they are for now. Thailand's rainy season typically lasts through October.
Family members of the missing hugged each other and cheered as they heard they had been found.
Aisha Wiboonrungrueng, the mother of 11-year-old Chanin Wiboonrungrueng, smiled and hugged her family as news of their discovery spread. She said she would cook her son a Thai omelet, his favorite food, when he returns home.
Divers found the group about 300 to 400 yards past a section of the cave on higher ground that was thought to be where they might have taken shelter.
In the five-minute navy video, the boys sit quietly on their haunches, legs bent in front of them. "You are very strong," one of the rescuers says in English. Someone asks what day it is, and the rescuer responds, "Monday. Monday. You have been here 10 days."
One boy, noticing the camera and hearing unfamiliar words, says in Thai, "Oh, they want to take a picture. Tell him we're hungry. I haven't had anything to eat."
The boy then breaks into simple English, saying, "Eat, eat, eat." Another voice responds in Thai that he already told that to the rescuer.
Narongsak said Tuesday that the boys were given high-protein liquid food, painkillers and antibiotics. He said doctors had advised giving the medicine as a preventative measure.
Anmar Mirza, a leading American cave rescue expert, said in an email that many challenges remain for the rescuers. He said the primary decision is whether to try to evacuate the boys and their coach or to supply them in place.
"Supplying them on site may face challenges depending on how difficult the dives are," said Mirza, coordinator of the U.S. National Cave Rescue Commission. "Trying to take non-divers through a cave is one of the most dangerous situations possible, even if the dives are relatively easy. That also begets the question: If the dives are difficult, then supply will be difficult, but the risk of trying to dive them out is also exponentially greater."
Narongsak said officials had met and agreed on the need to "ensure 100% safety for the boys when we bring them out."
"We worked so hard to find them and we will not lose them," he said.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha thanked the international experts and rescuers who helped locate the group for their "tremendous efforts."
"The Royal Thai Government and the Thai people are grateful for this support and cooperation, and we all wish the team a safe and speedy recovery," Prayuth's office said in a statement.
The rescuers had been stymied repeatedly by rising water that forced divers to withdraw for safety reasons. When water levels fell Sunday, the divers went forward with a more methodical approach, deploying a rope line and extra oxygen supplies along the way.
Teams have also been working to pump water out of the cave and divert groundwater, while other rescuers focused on exploring shafts above ground that might lead into the cave. Several fissures were found and teams have explored some, though none led to the missing group.
Experts in cave rescues from around the world had gathered at the site. An official Australian group has followed a U.S. military team, British cave experts, Chinese lifesaving responders and several other volunteer groups from various countries.
"These are challenging conditions and there's a lot of consideration for safety as well, as the environment outside is contributing to the environment inside," said U.S. Air Force Capt. Jessica Tait, part of a 30-member U.S. military team assisting in the search, referring to the rain that has been flooding the cave. "So I'd say, yeah, it's an accurate statement that it's challenging."
