Rescue teams have found all 12 boys and their soccer coach alive in a cave in Thailand nine days after the group went missing, according to a high-ranking person involved in the search and rescue operation.

The boys, who range in ages from 11 to 16 years old and are all members of the Wild Boar soccer team, entered the Tham Luang Nang Non cave system on Saturday, June 23, for a team outing, but became stranded in the dark tunnels by a sudden and continuous downpour.

The international rescue operation – including the Thai Navy SEALs as well as experts from the US, China, Australia and the UK – had been working to reach a large, deep chamber, informally named Pattaya Beach, where they believed the missing boys had taken refuge.

“I confirm they are all safe,” Chiang Rai Governor Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters on Monday night.

Osottanakorn said the rescuers had managed to reach Pattaya Beach and found that it was also flooded. The Thai Navy SEAL divers continued a further 300 to 400 meters where they located the team.

“Our mission (is) not done yet,” Osottanakorn said. “We will drain all water out from the cave then we will take all 13 people out of the cave. We are now planning how to send a nurse and doctor inside the cave to check their health and movement. We will work all night.”

The governor added that authorities are also trying to send food into the cave but were unsure if “they can eat it or not because it is almost 10 days.”

In Thailand, the search has captured the public’s attention with wall-to-wall media coverage as many hoped for a positive outcome.

A park officer first sounded the alarm after spotting the boys’ bicycles near the entrance to the off-limits cave complex.

The cave labyrinth is popular with tourists and for the first kilometre or so inside the cavernous entrance, limestone rock formations hug high ceilings, creating an almost amphitheatre-like atmosphere.

Late last week trekkers discovered a hidden opening deep in the jungle giving an alternative point of entry to the cave system.

The natural chimney, around 1.5 metres in diameter and at least 22 metres deep, was found to the north of the opening of the cave, where the boys’ bikes were found last Saturday.

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