Boys trapped in Thai cave say they are ‘healthy’ as rain threatens to delay their rescue for months

The Thai football team stuck in a vast cave complex have reassured the outside world that they are ‘healthy’ as they wait to be rescued.

The 12 boys – including one seemingly wearing an England football shirt – and their coach are seen sitting with Thai Navy Seals in the dark cave with their visibly skinny faces illuminated by the beam of a flashlight in newly-released video footage.

The boys, many wrapped in foil warming blankets, take turns introducing themselves, folding their hands together in a traditional greeting and saying their names and that they are healthy.

The video lasting about a minute was recorded sometime on Tuesday and was posted on the Navy Seal Facebook page on Wednesday morning.

The boys, aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach disappeared after they went exploring in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in northern Chiang Rai province after a football match on June 23.

The team-mates, who were trapped inside when heavy rains flooded the cave, were found by rescue divers late on Monday night during a desperate search that drew assistance from experts around the globe, including British divers Rick Stanton and John Volanthen who were the first rescuers to reach the group.

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Authorities said the boys, who had also been shown on Tuesday in a video shot by the British divers, were being looked after by seven members of the Thai Navy Seals, including medics, who were staying with them inside the cave.

They were mostly in stable condition and have received high-protein drinks.

Seal commander Rear Admiral Arpakorn Yookongkaew said there was no rush to bring the group out of the cave, since they are safe where they are.

The current flooding situation means the boys would have to dive, which rescue experts have said could be extremely dangerous.

While efforts to pump out floodwaters are continuing, some Thai officials have indicated that heavy rains forecast for this weekend could force them to decide the boys should swim and dive out using the same complicated route through which their rescuers entered.

Heavy rains forecast for later this week could flood the cave even further and the boys may need to swim out using diving equipment.

Thai interior minister Anupong Paojinda said: ‘Diving is not easy. For people who have never done it, it will be difficult, unlike diving in a swimming pool, because the cave’s features have small channels.

‘If something happens midway, it could be life-threatening.’

The forecasted rainfall means there will not be much time to teach the boys and coach them in how to swim using scuba equipment, heightening the risk.

Another option previously suggested was waiting for the water level to drop, which some officials reportedly fear could take months, as the country’s rainy season typically lasts into October.

Rescuers have also searched for other potential entrances to drill into the chamber and airlift the group out. It is estimated that the boys are around half a mile below the surface.

But it would be a complex and delicate task as the cave stretches under a mountainside for up to six miles and the rocky ground varies in elevation throughout.