Northern Thailand News
Northern Thailand news, Chiang Mai news, business, tourism, and culture—stay updated with breaking stories, local events, and travel insights from Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Pai, and beyond. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Northern Thailand news source.
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Chiang Rai: Team member 5 out of the caves
A young Mu Pa Academy footballer has emerged from Tham Luang cave at about 5pm, becoming the fifth teenager extracted from the cave in Chiang Rai province. The team member, whose name has not been revealed, was taken by ambulance from the cave in Mae Sai district before boarding a chopper to Chiang Rai Prachanukraw in Muang district. …
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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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First two players now safe at Chiang Rai hospital. Two more emerge from cave.
The first two trapped footballers have been safely evacuated out of Tham Luang cave, a military news source has confirmed. Meanwhile the Thai Navy Seals Facebook page reported that at 7.47pm two more boys emerged from the cave, one needing medical assistance, but his condition is not fully known at this time. The Royal Thai Airforce’s Facebook fanpage “Air Force…
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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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Situation ‘perfect’ for evacuation – Narongsak Osottanakorn
Narongsak Osottanakorn, chief of the rescue operation, is saying that conditions are ‘perfect’ for an attempted evacuation. He says that the weather should be OK, in the next few days, for an attempted evacuation. Any longer than this and the rains will return along with conditions inside the cave becoming more challenging as well. This is a more upbeat mood…
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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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Thaiger TV: Update on the two big stories from Thailand today
https://www.facebook.com/thethaigernews/videos/1774414402636380/
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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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Navy SEALS now taking care of the team inside the cave
PHOTO: Thai Navy SEALS Whilst the 13 footballers have now been found, weak but in relatively good condition and spirits, they are no closer to enjoying a hug from their parents, family or friends at the moment. Whilst they remain ‘close, yet so far’, every photo, video or voice heard is savoured. Parents of the boys trapped in the Chiang…
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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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Chiang Rai: Alternatives being checked out for the evacuation of the 13 member team
Finding the 13 footballers 300 metres away from the ‘Pattaya Beach’ inside the caves is just the first step in the recovery operation. But the prospect of getting 13 weak individuals out through the inundated and tricky cave systems, a lot of it still underwater, is proving an enormous challenge for rescuers. So, rescue teams are continuing to search for…
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“Alert and in good spirits.” Team alive. Rescuers now face evacuation challenges.
The twelve boys and their coach have been discovered alive following nine days of frantic searching. They were trapped by floodwaters in a cave complex in the far north of Thailand. The governor of Chiang Rai Province said rescue workers were providing care and managing their extended stay whilst they await a supervised extraction. Divers reached the group after enlarging…
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Found!
The 12 missing teenage footballers and their coach have been found, alive. The Navy SEALS reached the area known as ‘Pattaya Beach’ but it was flooded. They proceeded a little further and found the group. Now the task is being worked out how to bring them back to the front of the cave. The Governor of Chiang Rai made the…
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Chiang Rai: Race against time
Yesterday’s progress… • The Royal Thai Navy’s SEALs set up a forward command in the third chamber of the Tham Luang cave. • The SEALs venture out of the third chamber to get closer to “Pattaya Beach” where the stranded footballers are thought to have gathered. • The water level in the cave reduces due to all-out drainage efforts, which…
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Pattaya Beach, here we come – Navy SEALS getting closer
It’s full steam ahead to day as rescuer make an all-out-attempt to reach the area in the Tham Luang caves known as ‘Pattaya Beach’. The group of 13 has been stuck in the cave since they were caught in there eight days ago by sudden flooding rains. The Royal Thai Navy’s SEALs are now trying to dive through 800 metre…
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