Thai cave rescue mission narrowly avoided disaster after water pump failed

A crucial water pump failed and water levels rapidly rose soon after the last boy was brought out of the cave to safety. Photo / Elon Musk, Twitter

The rescue mission to free the last of the trapped boys and their soccer coach from a Thai cave narrowly avoided disaster after the main pump draining water from the flooded cave failed.

Divers and rescue workers were 1.5km inside the cave clearing up equipment when the pump failed and water levels began to increase rapidly, the Guardian reported.

Three Australian divers who were stationed in the cave told the Guardian they heard screaming as workers ran to higher ground when the pump failed.

Everyone made it out of the cave a short time later.

The total success of the Thai cave rescue is nothing short of a miracle.

The boys had spent more than two weeks in darkness, could barely swim, and were no doubt fearing for their lives as they made the dangerous 3km journey to the Tham Luang cave entrance.

All 12 boys and 25-year-old coach Ekkapol Chantawong are now recovering in hospital, with tests taken to screen for infections and assess their mental state.

There's no underestimating how difficult the journey was — not just physically, but psychologically.

There are reports the boys were sedated before they were removed from the cave, in order to keep them calm as they were extracted.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-O-Cha clarified that it was an anti-anxiety medication, but they were still conscious.

The rescued team was placed in a quarantined hospital ward in northern Thailand to undergo rigorous medical testing.

The focus will be on assessing the boys' and coach's physical and mental health. They will undergo examinations of their eyes, nutrition levels and psychological state, while blood samples will be taken to screen for any potential infections.

Each footballer was placed in isolation behind a glass wall at the hospital, and they were not allowed to hug or touch their parents.

There were fears the trapped footballers may have developed pneumonia, leptospirosis — a bacterial disease that affects humans and animals — and melioidosis, a potentially-fatal disease found in contaminated soil. It's also likely they will be tested for hypothermia.

During a press conference at Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital yesterday afternoon, a health official said the first eight rescued boys were suffering ailments including fevers, mild coughs and low heart rates, and at least two may have contracted a lung infection known as "cave disease".

"There are all kinds of diseases in the cave, from bats, from dirty water. Everything in there is very dirty," an emergency service worker told Reuters.

Psychologists have deemed them in a good mental state, but there were earlier reports the boys were not yet allowed to watch TV, at least until the entire team had been safely rescued.