EIGHT boys are now free from Thai cave and in hospital after heroic divers 'pulled them through the flood water

Four more boys have today been rescued from the cave complex in northern Thailand where a youth football team became trapped two weeks ago, leaving just four teammates and their coach stuck underground for at least another day.

The first of today's rescued Wild Boar FC players, whose identities have not yet been confirmed, was seen being carried out on a stretcher shortly before 5pm local time, a few hours after the mission entered its second day. 

Boys number six and seven were brought out little over an hour later, with boy number eight spotted being taken out at about 7.40pm local time.

They were all carried out on stretchers and into ambulances before being airlifted to the Chiang Rai Pranukroh Hospital, where the four players rescued on Sunday are recovering.

The 12 youth team players and their 25-year-old coach went missing on June 23, having become trapped inside the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in the northern Chiang Rai region by rising flood water.  

Pictures show the moment boy number six was is loaded onto a military helicopter to be airlifted to hospital, surrounded by army medics. 

The youngster has been wrapped in a silver space blanket to preserve what little body heat he has left after his arduous underwater journey out of the cave.

The medical team, including a nurse, are all wearing face masks to protect their precious patient from an infection.

The first rescue of today came shortly after the commander of the mission, Narongsak Osottanakorn, said 'oxygen bottles are ready... in the next few hours we will have good news'.

He announced the operation had restarted four hours ahead of schedule on Monday morning. 





MailOnline