Four more boys were rescued overnight NZ time from the cave complex in northern Thailand where a youth football team became trapped two weeks ago - leaving just four teammates and their football coach stuck underground this morning.
The first of Monday night's rescued Wild Boar FC players, whose identities have not yet been confirmed, was seen being carried out on a stretcher shortly about 4.30pm local time (9.30pm Monday NZ time), a few hours after the mission entered its second day.
Boys number six and seven were brought out a little over an hour later, with boy number eight spotted being taken out shortly afterwards.
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. Those four boys were hungry but in good spirits, officials said on Monday. They are in isolation as their health continues to be closely monitored.
Volunteers outside the cave in Chiang Rai cheered as news of the first boy rescued on Monday emerged.
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.
The first rescue of Monday came a few hours 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.
"All conditions are still as good as they were yesterday," Narongsak told a news conference.
"The boys' strength, the plan — today we are ready like before. And we will do it faster because we are afraid of the rain."
Authorities have been rushing to extract the boys, ages 11-16, and their coach from the cave as the annual monsoon bears down on the mountainous region in far northern Chiang Rai province.
Workers have been labouring around the clock to pump water out of the cave, and authorities said Monday that heavy downpours overnight did not raise water levels inside.
Osatanakorn said a 1.6km-long passage from the cave entrance to the third chamber, a staging ground for the mission, was "mostly walkable", adding: "Although there are some slightly difficult parts [where] we have to bend or crawl, we can say that we can just walk through it."
Monday's operations were reportedly suspended about 12.30am (NZ time), and are expected to resume later today.
Meanwhile, worried parents waiting at the entrance — many of whom have been holding 24-hour vigils despite the overnight rains — say they are still not being told "anything" about which boys are about to emerge from the cave, and can do nothing but wait.
The same 12 divers, including several from the UK with "expertise in cave diving", conducted Monday's operation, and it was expected to be a quicker rescue than on Sunday as the divers are now familiar with the circumstances.
Authorities had been rushing to extract the boys and their coach from the cave as monsoon rains bore down overnight on Sunday.
However, officials said the heavy downpours had not raised water levels in the cave, where workers continue to pump water out.
Earlier on Monday, divers placed new oxygen tanks along the way out of the underground network as part of preparations to repeat yesterday's mission.
"We've been working continuously overnight," a Chiang Rai government source told AFP on Monday morning, requesting anonymity, and confirming that there had only been a pause of the actual extraction operations.
With very few details released, parents of the remaining boys in the cave continued their agonising wait to be reunited with their sons.
"I am still waiting here at the cave, keeping my fingers crossed to see whether my son will be one of those to come out today," Supaluk Sompiengjai, mother of Peerapat — known by his nickname "Night" — told AFP.
"We heard four boys are out but we do not know who they are. Many parents are still here waiting. None of us has been informed of anything." But she added she was happy at the prospect of seeing her son again.
Her husband Somboon said parents had been told they would not be able to visit their sons once rescued.
"We have not been told which child has been brought out ... We can't visit our boys in hospital because they need to be monitored for 48 hours," he told Reuters.
Sunday's "masterpiece" three-and-a-half-hour mission saw four children being calmly guided to safety after 15 days of being stuck in their fetid underground prison.
Wearing full-face masks, the youngsters swam – for the first time in their lives – through miles of mud-clogged underwater tunnels which claimed the life of an elite Thai navy diver on Friday.
On finally emerging blinking into the daylight, the boys were hugged by their British rescuers before being taken to hospital.
Speaking in Bangkok, Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda said the four pulled from the cave "are strong and safe" and in the care of doctors.
The first boy out was Monhkhol Boonpiam, 13, known as Mark. The second boy was Prajak Sutham, known as Note.
Number three was Nattawoot Thakamsai, a 14-year-old asthma sufferer whose parents have already lost a baby daughter to cancer.
Lastly came Pipat Bodhu, 15, aka Nick, who was not even in the team but came along as a friend of the goalkeeper.
Eight other young players and their 25-year-old coach of the Wild Boars football team were chosen to remain in the cavern – half a mile deep.
Commanders paused the mission overnight to replenish oxygen supplies and give the rescuers a break. But they remain "at war with water and time" as torrential monsoon downpours deluged the Tham Luang cave, in the hilly jungle of northern Thailand, and threatened to flood it even further.
They said a combination of the weakest and the strongest boys had been selected to attempt Sunday's perilous operation.
The children, who have spent more than two weeks more or less in complete darkness will receive individual counselling with a psychiatrist as they return to life above ground, a teacher at Mae Sai Prasitsart school where several of the boys study said.
He added that they will be let off their upcoming exams next week.
"They will not have to follow the normal schedules," Thongyaud Kejorn said at a press conference on Monday morning.
On Sunday, the Thai king led tributes to rescuers and the schoolboys as scenes of joyful weeping nationwide were shown on television. US President Donald Trump offered his congratulations.
Note's aunt told the Daily Mail he was a strong, caring, intelligent boy who dreamed of becoming a professional footballer, adding that he would be so excited by an offer from football chiefs to the World Cup final in Moscow that "he would punch the air".
The mother of Mark, the first boy out, has always kept the faith. Namhom Boonpiam staunchly declared: "I believe he will survive".
However, even after their ordeal is over, the children could still suffer post traumatic stress disorder, experts have warned.
Their experience is expected to lead to nightmares, sleep problems, stomach and headaches and clinginess with parents, as well as getting angry and upset more easily.
Dr Andrea Dese, head of the stress and development lab at Kings College London's Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, said: "In the longer term, most children will recover from the initial emotional symptoms. A sizeable minority, 10 to 30 per cent, will however experience enduring mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety disorders and PTSD."
- With Agencies
The site was used by Hezbollah to plan attacks on Israeli civilians.