Songs of hope

Messages of support are pouring in from all corners of the country as the rescue mission for 12 boys and their football coach missing in a Chiang Rai cave reached its sixth day yesterday.

Popular singers, YouTube stars and a national artist have lent their moral support to rescue efforts.

National artist and a Sea Write winner Nawarat Pongpaiboon penned a prayer to spirits to return the lost boys to their distraught parents.

The poem was posted to his Facebook page on Thursday along with a portrait of the missing group.

A number of singers also released songs of solidarity with the missing group on social media. Popular rapper WonderFrame posted a YouTube rap she wrote titled “13 Wild Boars Be Safe”. Wild Boar is the name of the missing football team.

WonderFrame captioned the clip with a message of moral support to the rescuers as well as the families of the boys, adding that all Thai people were hoping and waiting for them to return from the cave safely.

Several more Thai songs of solidarity have popped up on YouTube.

Meanwhile in Phitsanulok province, students from Chalermkwansatree School made a thousand origami cranes in support of the footballers. One of the students explained that the Japanese origami crane symbolised long life, hope, good luck and happiness. Legend has it that if a thousand paper cranes are made, the person can recover from illness quickly, she said.

The student also said that she and her schoolmates were praying for the safe return of the missing boys.

Many schools across the country are conducting similar activities in support of the rescuers and the group believed to be sheltering from floods deep inside the cave complex.

The Nation