<br /> <p>Thai officials evacuated media from the Tham Luang cave entrance on the morning of July 8 as medics and divers arrived, signaling the rescue operation for the trapped soccer team was imminent, reported The Guardian</a>.</p><p>The boys, ages 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach have been in the cave since June 23. They were found by rescue divers late on July 2.</p><p>Officials have been working diligently to drain the cave’s flooded tunnel system, they’ve cleared just under one mile of the passage, but the journey is an 11-hour round trip for experienced adult divers, reported The Guardian. Rescuers have been teaching the boys how to scuba dive in preparation for the extraction.</p><p>“We will still maintain our planned mission and the two main obstacles are time and water,” a Thai spokesperson said at a press conference on July 8.</p><p>Governor of Chiang Rai province Narongsak Osottanakorn said the earliest the boys will surface is 9 pm on July 8 (local time), reported The Guardian, who has a correspondent on the ground. Credit: Chatchai Srivit via Storyful</p><br />
