Key points:
- Four boys rescued from Thai cave.
- Rescue operation paused for 10 hours as teams prepare.
- Eight boys and coach remain trapped.
- Extracting group could take three to four days.
- Thai PM to visit cave on Monday.
- An Australian doctor was involved in the operation.
Four of the 12 schoolboys were rescued from a flooded cave in northern Thailand on Sunday before the operation commenced a 10-hour pause to replenish oxygen supplies.
Amid scenes of jubilation near the Tham Luang Cave, head of the rescue operation Narongsak Osottanakorn told SBS News that officials were reassessing oxygen and other supplies before they evacuate the next batch of boys and their coach.
He also said authorities were "assessing [the] health of [the] children".
Images and identities of the rescued boys have not been released.
The first four boys are rushed to hospital after their ordeal. Source: EPA
Thirteen foreign divers and five members of Thailand's elite Navy Seal unit guided the boys to safety through narrow, submerged passageways that claimed the life of a former Thai navy diver on Friday.
A helicopter flew the four boys to the nearby city of Chiang Rai, where they were taken by ambulance to hospital.
The hospital where some of the boys were taken. Source: AFP
Eight boys and the coach remain trapped underground.
The plight of the group has transfixed Thailand and the rest of the world, as authorities struggled to locate them and then devise a plan to get the boys and their coach out.
'A great success'
In a press conference, Narongsak said the four who escaped were "safe" but released few details about their condition or identities.
"Today was the best situation – in terms of kids' health, water and our rescue readiness," he said.
Narongsak said the operation had proceeded hours faster than expected, adding that it was "a great success".
The rescue teams needed about 10 hours to prepare for their next operation, involving about 90 divers in total, 50 of them from foreign countries, he said.
Onlookers watch and cheer as ambulances deliver boys rescued from a cave in northern Thailand to hospital in Chiang Rai. Source: Getty Images AsiaPac
"Our job is not completely done ... We will have to do the next mission as successfully as the one we did today. The rest of the kids are in the same spot."
Heavy rains hamper rescue
Bursts of heavy monsoon rain soaked the Tham Luang Cave area in northern Chiang Rai province on Sunday and storms were expected in the coming weeks, increasing the risks in what has been called a "war with water and time" to save the team.
The boys, aged between 11 and 16, went missing with their 25-year-old coach after soccer practice on June 23, setting out on an adventure to explore the cave complex near the border with Myanmar and celebrate a boy's birthday.
The rescue teams had rehearsed the plan for several days, Narongsak said, and had managed to drain the water level in the cave considerably, but needed to move fast.
"If we wait and the rain comes in the next few days we will be tired again from pumping and our readiness would drop. If that's the case, then we have to reassess the situation," he said.
The head of rescue mission Narongsak Osottanakorn speaking at the news conference. Source: SBS News
Dark, narrow passageways
Rescuing the remaining boys and coach could take two to four days, and depended on the weather, an army commander involved in the mission said.
To escape, the boys must dive through dark, narrow passageways sometimes no more than two feet (0.6 metre) wide, that have challenged some of the world's leading cave divers.
Authorities have said it takes roughly 11 hours to do a round-trip from the cave entrance to where the boys are huddled on a muddy bank.
Eight of the Thai boys are now out of the cave. Source: AAP
An Australian doctor who is part of Sunday's rescue mission checked the health of the boys on Saturday night and gave the all-clear for the rescue to proceed.
Dr Richard Harris, an anaesthetist from Adelaide, went into the cave at the specific request of Thai authorities.
According to the website OzTek, Dr Harris is an underwater photographer who have dived for over 30 years.
Richard Harris has been assisting Thai rescue workers at the scene. Source: diveoztek.com.au/Richard-Harris
Authorities said the rescue team included divers from "all around the world, mainly from Europe".
British divers Richard Stanton and John Volanthen discovered the boys on Monday. The British Cave Rescue Council said earlier this week they were sending five "key cave rescuers" to Thailand, some of whom were divers.
An ambulance transports the first two children after being rescued from Tham Luang cave from a helicopter before heading to hospital. Source: AAP
Medical teams anxious
Thirteen medical teams were stationed outside the cave - each with its own helicopter and ambulance - one for each of 12 boys and their coach.
A source at the Chiang Rai hospital said that five emergency response doctors were awaiting the boys and a further 30 doctors were on standby.
"The teams here are happy the boys are being rescued but also anxious about the severity of the boys' conditions. We're under a lot of pressure," she said, declining to be named because she was not allowed to speak to the media.
The area outside the hospital was cordoned off with police patrolling the area. Down the street, a loudspeaker told vendors to "keep off the road" and to "not obstruct the transfer mission".
Prime minister to visit
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, leader of the military junta that seized power in 2014, planned to visit the cave site on Monday, a government spokesman said.
His visit with relatives and rescue officials last week was criticised by some Thais as opportunistic as his government faced pro-democracy protests in the capital Bangkok in recent months.
"For the people who are currently bringing the 13...out of the Tham Luang cave, he (Prayuth) wishes safety and success," government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said.
US President Donald Trump said the United States was working "very closely" with the Thai government to free the
boys.
"Very brave and talented people!" he tweeted.
Ambulances parked on standby outside the hospital in Chiang Rai province. Source: AAP
- Additional reporting by Reuters.
