11 out of Thai cave, hopes rise all will survive – (AFP)

Three more people were rescued from a flooded Thai cave on Tuesday, officials said, bringing to 11 the number saved and raising hopes all members of the young football team who became trapped 18 days ago would survive.

Two more were still inside the cave but authorities were confident of getting them out by Tuesday evening through a claustrophobic network of tunnels that in some places were completely filled with water.

The hoped-for final chapter in an ordeal that has gripped the world came after elite foreign divers and Thai Navy SEALs escorted eight members of the “Wild Boars” football team out of the Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand on Sunday and Monday.

Then on Tuesday afternoon multiple sources involved in the operation said three more had been escorted out. However, it was not clear if the 25-year-old coach was among them or if he remained inside.

The 12 boys, aged from 11 to 16, and their coach, ventured into the cave on June 23 after football practice and got caught deep inside when heavy rains caused flooding that trapped them on a muddy ledge.

They spent nine harrowing days trapped in darkness until two British divers found them.

Authorities then struggled to devise a safe plan to get them out, mulling ideas such as drilling holes into the mountain or waiting months until monsoon rains ended and they could walk out.

With oxygen levels in their chamber falling to dangerous levels and complete flooding of the cave system possible, rescuers pushed ahead with the least-worst option of having divers escort them out through the extremely narrow and water-filled tunnels.

The ups and downs of the rescue bid has entranced Thailand and also fixated a global audience, drawing support from celebrities as varied as US President Donald Trump, football star Lionel Messi and tech guru Elon Musk.

The emergence of the second batch of four boys on Monday evening was greeted with a simple “Hooyah” by the SEAL team on their Facebook page, an exclamation that lit up Thai social media.

Positive medical reports on the rescued group further fuelled the sense of joy and optimism.

“All eight are in good health, no fever… everyone is in a good mental state,” Jedsada Chokdamrongsuk, permanent secretary of the public health ministry, said at Chiang Rai hospital where the boys were recuperating on Tuesday morning.

However, the boys will remain in quarantine until doctors were sure they had not contracted any infections from inside the cave.

Experts warned that drinking contaminated water or otherwise being exposed to bird or bat droppings in the cave could lead to dangerous infections.

But the early signs on the initial eight were promising, with X-rays and blood tests showing just two had signs of pneumonia and that they were in a “normal state” after taking antibiotics, Jedsada said.

Some had even asked for “bread and chocolate spread”, he added.

Click through the gallery in the multimedia box above for a gallery of pics from the rescue effort.

MAE SAI, Thailand – All 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped for more than two weeks deep inside a flood Thai cave have been rescued, a Thai navy SEAL unit said on Tuesday, a successful end to a perilous mission that has gripped the world.

“The 12 Wild Boars and coach have emerged from the cave and they are safe,” the Thai navy SEAL unit said on its official Facebook page.

The “Wild Boars” soccer team and their coach got trapped on June 23 while exploring the cave complex in the northern province of Chiang Rai after soccer practice and a rainy season downpour flooded the tunnels.

READ: Looming rain threatens treacherous Thai cave rescue bid

British divers found the 13, hungry and huddled in darkness on a muddy bank in a partly flooded chamber several kilometres inside the complex, on Monday last week.

After pondering for days how to get the 13 out, a rescue operation was launched on Sunday when four of the boys were brought out, tethered to rescue divers.

Another four were rescued on Monday and the last four boys and the coach were brought out on Tuesday.

Celebrations will be tinged with sadness over the loss of a former Thai navy diver who died last Friday while on a re-supply mission inside the cave in support of the rescue.All 12 Thai schoolboys, and their soccer coach, who were trapped in a water-logged cave for more than two weeks, have been evacuated from the cave, according to Savy seals, as reported by Reuters. 

The ninth boy was carried from the cave on a stretcher shortly AFTER 11:00 SAST, Reuters and CNN reported.

Reuters

Duduzane Zuma to appear in court 

Duduzane Zuma will appear in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Johannesburg on Monday, his lawyer confirmed over the weekend.

“Yes, he will be [appearing],” lawyer Rudi Krause told News24 on Sunday.

City Press reported that he was set to be charged with corruption – apparently in connection with the role he allegedly played in an incident where former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas has said there was an attempt to bribe him at the Guptas’ Saxonwold home in 2015.

According to the newspaper, sources from the Hawks had revealed Zuma would be charged with contravening the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.

Zuma has apparently been overseas since February; however, his brother, Vusi Nhlakanipho Zuma, died recently of lupus and Duduzane came to attend his funeral. 

MAE SAI, Thailand – A treacherous rescue bid to free a youth football team trapped in a flooded Thai cave entered its second day Monday, with nine of the “Wild Boars” still inside after elite divers guided four out.

Looming rain was one of the main enemies of the operation, threatening to flood the cave complex in mountainous northern Thailand, although a bewildering array of other dangers could also doom the escape plans.

READ: Desperate search for 12 children trapped in Thailand cave

Thais have been fixated on the crisis, hoping desperately for the safe return of the boys and their 25-year-old coach, since they became trapped in the Tham Luang cave complex on June 23 because of rising waters.

They spent nine days unaccounted for inside the cave before British divers found the emaciated and dishevelled group huddling on a muddy bank above the flooding.

What a phenomenal story of allround, bravery, resilience and hardiness this is! #ThaiCaveRescue pic.twitter.com/gbHTOMK9rN

— Greg Lewis Smith (@tallgreg) July 8, 2018

On Sunday four members of the “Wild Boar” team were successfully brought out from the cave after authorities decided they had to rush ahead with a rescue operation to beat monsoon rains.

They were guided by expert divers who plotted the hours-long escape through more than four kilometres (2.5 miles) of twisting passageways and flooded chambers.

Rescue chief Narongsak Osottanakorn on Sunday said four of the team — affectionately dubbed by Thai social media Wild Boars 1,2,3,4 — were “safe” but released few details about their condition or identities.

He said the extraction effort would likely resume early Monday.

“We’ve been working continuously overnight,” a Chiang Rai government source told AFP on Monday morning, requesting anonymity, and confirming that there had only been a pause of the actual extraction operations.

Authorities continued to refuse to release details about the identities or conditions of the four who had escaped.

“Don’t ask these kinds of questions. Not wise questions to ask,” Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha told reporters in Bangkok on Monday morning when asked about the conditions of the four.

Prayut was scheduled to visit the cave site later on Monday, according to his official schedule.

Agonising wait

With so few details released, parents continued their agonising wait to be reunited with their sons.

“I am still waiting here at the cave, keeping my fingers crossed to see whether my son will be one of those to come out today,” Supaluk Sompiengjai, a mother of Pheeraphat — known by his nickname “Night” — told AFP.

“We heard four boys are out but we do not know who they are. Many parents are still here waiting. None of us has been informed of anything.”

But she added she was “happy” at the prospect of seeing her son again.

To get the remaining boys out, divers will be forced by the narrow passages to accompany them one at a time.

I know this rescue ops is going to be intense as hell but I dint expect it to be this scary –. These guys deserve Medal of Honour —#ThaiCaveRescue pic.twitter.com/KHrh7Ge6d8

— RKS (@kchelvi575) July 8, 2018

None of the boys has scuba diving experience and experts have warned they could easily panic while swimming underwater in darkness.

The lack of space has added complexity to storing enough canisters of oxygen along the route out.

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 professionals. 

Weather forecasters said heavy rain could hit the area on Monday afternoon and continue through the week.

Authorities have repeatedly warned that the rain could re-flood crucial parts of the cave complex that have been drained and make the escape route march harder or even impossible to navigate.

The hordes of global and local media have been kept back from the cave and the hospital in Chiang Rai, where the rescued boys are believed to be under observation.

Night’s relatives have said they believe the group went to the cave to celebrate his 16th birthday after a Saturday football practice and got caught as heavy rains caused the water inside the cave to suddenly rise.

Ekapol Chanthawong lost his whole family as a kid. He trained as a monk & then devoted his life to helping coach kids. He kept 12 children alive in a cave without food or light for 9 days. He will be last to leave tomorrow & is only 25. Remember him! #ThaiCaveRescue #Hero pic.twitter.com/yWzn2k1dJ4

— Asjad Nazir (@asjadnazir) July 8, 2018

A frantic rescue mission was hatched in the week since they were found.

Expert climbers, divers and Thai Navy Seals have mulled contingencies ranging from drilling an escape route through the mountain to waiting out the monsoon inside the cave.

But the rescue was prodded into action by the threat of a fresh round of rains and falling oxygen levels in the cave.

AFP

President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday toured his headache province, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), to try to stem a growing hostility towards him, with a message assuring his critics there that he and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma were no longer adversaries.

Ramaphosa has battled for support in the province where some supporters of former president Jacob Zuma are yet to be won over.

Dlamini-Zuma contested and lost the presidency battle to Ramaphosa in a close race at the ANC conference last year.

But the firing of Zuma as president has become the source of discontent towards Ramaphosa and the ANC top six, particularly in KZN where deputy president David Mabuza is mentioned among those who are barred from setting foot in the province.

King Goodwill Zwelithini’s declaration to fight in defence of the land of the Zulu nation was seen as an offshoot of the brewing anti-Ramaphosa – not anti-ANC – sentiment in the province.

Yesterday, the president assured ANC supporters in KZN that he, Dlamini-Zuma and her supporters were one. He said he disappointed sceptics by appointing her to his Cabinet and even closer, inside the presidency.

“Her office is next to mine,” the president said.

He also wanted to put to bed beliefs that leaders elected from the Nasrec conference were not welcome in the province.

“Today we are here, KZN belongs to the ANC.”

Reaching out to Zuma supporters, he said he had spoken to Zuma the day before to commiserate over the death of his son.

A national executive member close to Zuma said: “It is only Ramaphosa who can stop this by coming out publicly and stating that the ANC was wrong in the way that it treated Zuma.”

The source said that Ramaphosa had been warned, including privately, that he had to avoid taking a posture that was seen to be anti-Zuma, to create for himself a solid platform to unite the ANC.

Although Ramaphosa has apologised to the king, Zuma backers said to appreciate the gravity of the matter Ramaphosa could have instead used the public broadcaster for a national address to clear matters with the monarch.

“Obviously that could have been preceded by appealing to people who can whisper to the king, like Zuma, to say that there is a misunderstanding and the president would like to set the record straight and offer an apology.”

Mabuza told City Press in an interview that “all those things that there are no-go areas are petty issues because they do not speak to what the ANC stands for”.

“Those differences are not ideological, but personal differences that do not speak to the objectives of the ANC,” he said.

Mabuza said the current generation of ANC leadership had a responsibility to rise to the challenge “because we cannot fight about personal things and in the process destroy the ANC”.

“Let’s elevate the ANC because what made us know each other is the ANC, so let us elevate the ANC. I’m not worried about no-go areas because finally my duty is to persuade comrades to see the bigger picture, to say continue with the objectives of the ANC because it is not yet uhuru.”

He said he was prepared, just as he was before last year’s conference in Nasrec, “to sacrifice whatever we have for the ANC to advance”.

“Some people sacrificed with their lives and everything for us to be here. I think on our part it is a failure to elevate the ANC and push back our personal desires so that the ANC could advance,” said Mabuza.

He said: “The ANC is not about an individual, but an institution itself that must be protected and those participating must always try and save the life of this institution.

“So we are not going to be tempted to react to things that do not speak to the life of the ANC. And we are going to reprimand those comrades who seek to deviate from things that will save the life of the ANC. We will refuse things that will destroy the ANC.”

Mabuza said another view in the ANC was that “unity in this movement is a continuous project”.

“But this time this disunity is threatening the life of the ANC and that is why we are all standing up, so the degree of disunity must always be at an acceptable level so that this living organism must survive.”

Former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo is said to be among those who challenged the ANC’s posture on Zuma in a national executive committee meeting, saying that it violated the rule of law, equality before the law, and the principle that everyone is innocent until proven guilty.