MAE SAI: Rescue divers cleared a key hurdle on Sunday in the increasingly desperate search for 12 boys and their soccer coach who went missing in a cave in northern Thailand more than a week ago, officials said.

A team led by Thai navy SEAL divers pushed through the murk of a km-long chamber to a passageway that could lead to where the missing may have taken shelter, said the SEALs’ commander, Rear Adm. Arpakorn Yookongkaew.

The missing boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach entered the sprawling Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai province after soccer practice on June 23. They were apparently trapped inside by flooding caused by heavy rain and have not been heard from since.

The teams that swam on Sunday included the SEALs, Australian divers and rescuers from the Thai city of Ayutthaya.

The divers’ goal is to get to an area of the cave known as Pattaya Beach. That section of the cave has a higher elevation, and authorities hope it remained dry and the 13 missing took shelter there.

Experts in cave rescues from around the world continued to gather at the site. An official Australian group has now followed a US military team, British cave experts, Chinese lifesaving responders and several other volunteer groups from various countries.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2018