Northern Thailand News
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Sponsored Why is Bangkok's air quality so bad?
Imagine waking up early in Bangkok and you see all the beautiful morning fog from your balcony, but as you sip your coffee you realise it's just Bangkok's air pollution that's making the sun rise aesthetic. Ranked as the 36th...
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Chiang Rai: Mu Pa team speak of their ordeal
As the team continues to recover in the Chiang Rai Prachanukro Hospital, the parents and guardians are now being given time with they kids. Here are some of the first details to emerge from some of the team members, as reported by Marisa Chimprabha… Chanin ‘Titan’ Wibulrungrueng Chanin Wibulrungrueng, one of the 13 Mu Pa Academy football club members who were…
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“Massive, massive relief” – Diver Richard Stanton speaks
“The mission was an order of difficulty much higher than anything that’s been accomplished anywhere around the world by any other cave diving team.” The British diver who found 12 Thai boys and their coach trapped alive in a flooded cave has described his “massive relief” as he counted them one by one, in what he called an unprecedented rescue…
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Up close and personal – team continues to recover
The 13 footballers rescued from a flooded cave in Chiang Rai province continue to recover under the supervision of staff at the Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital. Relatives have even been up to visit them and be with them. The Public Health Ministry inspector-general Dr Thongchai Lertwilairattapong gave the latest report card on the group’s recovery this morning (Friday). He reports that the…
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Comment: They’re out. Now what? The future for Mu Pa football team members.
by Tim Newton They’re out. Now what for the 13 young men from Mae Sai? They entered the Tham Luang caves on June 23 along with their 25 year old coach, Ekkapol on a benign post-practice trip to the nearby caves. The y’d been there before. Except for their families, guardians and school friends, they were basically unknown to anyone…
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From inside the cave – bringing out the team. Thai Navy SEAL video.
The Thai Navy SEAL Facebook page has released a video clip that shows for the first time how the 13 Mu Pa Academy football team members were evacuated from the Tham Luang cave. The 12 young footballers and their 25 year old assistant coach were trapped in the cave since June 23 after flash floods blocked their exit. They were…
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Australian cave medic emerges to his own tragic news
In the wake of yesterday’s euphoria following the final five team members being successfully evacuated from the Tham Luang caves, a sad epilogue. An Australian doctor, Richard Harris, partly responsible for looking after the Thai football team during their cave ordeal, emerged last night, exhausted but relieved they job was over. Some sad news awaited him. He was told that…
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American film crew already in Chiang Rai plotting movie
As the rescue mission around the cave swings into a huge clean up operation, a US film crew has already arrived in Chiang Rai. Two American producers have been sniffing around plotting a movie project about the 12 young Mu Pa Academy footballers and their assistant coach who were trapped in the cave for more than two weeks. The final…
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Thirteen is a lucky number
All 12 young footballers and their assistant coach, who were trapped inside Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai for over two weeks, have been successfully and safely evacuated from the cave on day 3 of the mammoth rescue operation. According to the Thai Navy Seal’s Facebook page, the four divers, who accompanied the last members to be rescued from deep…
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Chiang Rai: Solid food but no TV – Doctors report on the first eight out of the cave
The eight members of the Mu Pa Academy football club, already rescued from the Tham Luang Cave in the past two days, are in good health mentally and physically. But attending doctors say all had high white blood cell counts and two initially showed indications of pneumonia. Senior health officials briefed reporters at Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital this morning, saying…
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Media slammed for unethical reporting – Narongsak Osottanakorn
PHOTOS: Karl Vandenhole and The Nation “Unethical reporting by the media has hampered the rescue operation to retrieve the 13 trapped footballers from the Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai. Reporters have broken the law and the rights of their news sources to get the latest stories,” this from the Mission Control chief, Narongsak Osottanakorn. He yesterday issued a stern warning…
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Ekkapol Chanthawong – Parents are refusing to blame him
PHOTO: From video of Thai Navy Seals Facebook page Eight out, five to go. But Ekkapol Chanthawong, the assistant football coach of the Mu Pa team, trapped in Tham Luang cave since June 23, is being credited with keeping his young team alive during their ordeal. He’s 25, the rest of the young team are between 11 and 16 years…
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Chiang Rai: Day two’s rescues conclude with another four out of the cave
PHOTO: The Nation Four more of the teenage football team have emerged from the Tham Luang caves tonight, taken to a medivac tent for a quick examination then whisked away to the Chiang Rai hospital by helicopter. It’s been day two of the risky rescue mission that was forced on officials by looming rain and possibilities of rising flood waters…
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Day Two evacuations underway
Evacuations are now well underway in day two of the process to extract the 13 players from inside the cave. Four were extracted from the cave last evening, according to an official announcement by former Governor of Chiang Rai Narongsak Osottanakorn. Yesterday divers and rescuers succeeded in recovering four of the 12 young players after divers headed into the cavern, prepared…
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Chiang Rai: This afternoon’s media briefing
Snippets from this afternoon’s media briefing: • Governor says first four boys out of the cave are healthy and remain at hospital • They have been separated from relative. at this stage to prevent any potential infection • The boys have asked for Pat Ka Prao – Basil stir fried with rice • Officer’s radio frequency have now been jammed…
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Chiang Rai: What we know – 2.30pm
Divers have been preparing over the past 12 hours to resume their extraction of the remaining 9 people still inside the cave. They re-entered the cave mouth at 11am this morning. On this basis, comparing to yesterday’s timing, we can expect more of the team to emerge from the caves early this evening, but that is pure speculation. A drone…
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One boy emerged in a serious condition, now recovering
The condition of one of the Mu Pa footballers who were rescued from the Tham Luang Cave in Chiang Rai last evening, and initially was initially causing concerns with his health, is improving. He had been listed as red, signifying a ‘serious case’ after being trapped in Tham Luang cave since June 23. However officials now say he is recovering…
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Chiang Rai: They will start coming out tonight at 9pm
PHOTO: Thai PBS “Today is D-Day,” says the Chiang Rai Governor, adding that 13 international cave divers and 5 Navy SEAL members have gone into the cave to bring out the Mu Pa Football Academy members. “Each of the survivors will be escorted by two rescue divers. He told a media briefing that the first survivor should be brought out,…
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Chiang Rai: The Mu Pa boys are on their way out – Governor
A mission to evacuate the missing Mu Pa footballers and their coach who have been trapped for more than two weeks in Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district began at 10am this morning (Sunday), the mission chief said. “Today is the D-day. The boys are ready to face any challenges,” Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters near the cave…
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Chiang Rai: The rescue is on
The evacuation is currently underway. The Chiang Rai Governor says the rescue mission started at 10am this morning and could take all of today and into tonight to complete. If all goes well they expect to bring the first footballer out around 9pm. The 13 trapped football team members are said to be ‘ready to go home’. They are…
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220 rescuers looking for crevices and tunnels into the cave
Whilst a plan has firmed to get the trapped footballers out of Tham Luang cave using a ‘buddy’ system and staged triage along the exit route, many others are still trying to find entry points from above the cave. More than 220 rescue operation officials will camp on top of the mountain above the Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai…
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Heavy rain forecast forcing rescuers to act, or wait
Outgoing Chiang Rai governor, Narongsak, at a media briefing held at midnight last night, has admitted that oxygen supply within the section of the cave where the 13 footballers are waiting, has become a major concern. He also mentioned the threat from potential heavy rains in the next few days that is forcing the rescue teams to consider a premature…
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Messages from inside the Tham Luang Caves
Whilst they’re waiting for the rescue to start, the 13 trapped footballers have been taking time to write some messages to their families and the outside world, with a special note for their teachers. One message read… “Don’t worry. We are all healthy. We want to eat many kinds of food from outside. When we are out from the cave,…
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“Urgent need to extract the survivors”, Chiang Rai Governor
A breakdown of rescue efforts at Chiang Rai in an excellent graphic from The Nation. Last night the former Governor of Chiang Rai at a midnight media conference said that there was an urgent need to extract the 13 with the threat of more rain and the health deterioration of some of the 13 survivors. The authorities and personnel involved…
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Chiang Rai: Former Thai Navy SEAL dies during rescue
A former Thai navy SEAL has died while on the way way back to the ‘hall 3’ area from where the 13 footballers are stranded. He was participating in the rescue of the 13 footballers in the Tham Luang Caves in Chiang Rai. He had finished his paid work with the Thai Navy SEAL team but was working with the rescue…
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“Unrealistic and very risky.” Academic warns about cave rescue.
By Pratch Rujianrom Associate Professor Ariya Aruninta from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok is warning that the focus on evacuating the trapped 13 by drying the cave was unrealistic and very risky. Draining water out of the Tham Luang cave is an impossible mission, she claims, even as the rescue operation makes headway and pumping water from the flooded cave has…
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So close, yet so far – challengers ahead for divers and survivors
Whilst rescuers are tackling the tricky task of removing the 13 trapped footballers from the Tham Luang caves, the Governor of Chiang Rai has shared some of the latest thinking and strategies from the divers and rescue team. Doctors say that the 13 survivors are not physically ready to be taken out after their extended stay in total darkness for…
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Can’t swim, can’t dive. But it’s the only option.
PHOTO: Army doctor Colonel Pak Loharachun on Wednesday prepares inside the cave to treat minor wounds sustained by the football team members – Thai Navy SEALS “The fittest of the survivors will be the first to come out, others will follow,” Narongsak Osotanakorn, Chiang Rai governor and head of the rescue operations, said yesterday. Rescuers do not want to delay…
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Options and opportunities – getting the football team out of the caves
PHOTOS: The Nation/Thai Navy Seals Facebook Page “…all of them are in the good hands of seven Navy SEALs, who will be with them and take care of them all the time.” Authorities are mulling whether they should wait for water levels to subside, which could take a long time, or use divers to bring the footballers out in a…
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Chiang Rai: A long and winding rescue ahead
“…experts are saying it could take weeks or even months.” Rescuers are bracing for a long and difficult evacuation for the 13 Thai kids found alive in the Tham Luang cave after they went missing on June 23. All this chatter outside the cave whilst food and medicine was being shuttled to the young football players through muddy waters today.…
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