CHIANG RAI, Thailand, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Three of 13 foreign diving experts have begun diving to reach the 13 people trapped in a cave in northern Thailand in a bid to extract them out, a statement released by Chiang Rai public relation body said on Sunday.
The 13 foreign cave diving experts have entered the cave to join the rescue operation since 10 a.m. local time on Sunday. The 12 boys and their coach will be dived out of the cave.
According to the statement, international rescue teams from the U.S., China, Australia and Europe are stationed along tunnel walls from the entrance of the cave to chamber 3, a safe command center inside the cave, to support the extraction.
The public relation body said no kids have been dived out so far.
Twelve footballers, aged between 11 and 16, and their coach, 25, went missing in the cave in northern Thailand's Chiang Rai Province on June 23. They were located on a small cliff about four km away from the cave entrance when the search entered the ninth day on July 2.
Narongsak Osottanakorn, head of the rescue mission, said that the first boy could emerge out of the cave at around 9:00 p.m. local time if the operation went smoothly.