Thailand cave rescue - LIVE: Latest updates as medics reach 12 boys and football coach trapped underground

Thai prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has praised the international reaction to the incident.

"Thank you all Thais, thank you all foreigners, everybody is a hero and everybody helped each other," he has told reporters.

The Thai government has released advice on the rehabilitation of the football team if and when they get out. 

It says survivors and family members may experience post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Once out, they should be provided with a "calm and peaceful environment" to create "a feeling of safety and stability". 

"Families should also consult with a psychiatrist should the children exhibit symptoms of PTSD, so that they can receive the necessary therapy or medication, and be available and attentive if the child wishes to discuss their feelings or experiences," it adds. "Families should also encourage their children to engage in stress-free activities and avoid leaving the children alone."

Thai interior minister Anupong Paochinda has said the boys will be brought out the same complicated route the rescue diverse took to find them. 

He said efforts to pump out the water would continue, but that it was clear there were areas which could not be drained. 

The children might need diving gear, he added, and would be accompanied by two divers each on their way out, according to the Bangkok Post.

''Diving is not easy. For people who have never done it, it will be difficult, unlike diving in a swimming pool, because the cave's features have small channels,'' he said. ''If something happens midway, it could be life-threatening.''

The young footballers went into the cave as part of an initiation, one of the divers who helped locate them has said.

The boys reportedly went into the Luang Nang Non Cave in order to write their names on the walls.

They were "wading in and trying to go to the end of the tunnel, sort of like an initiation for local young boys to… write your name on the wall and make it back," Ben Reymenants told Sky News. 

The Thai government has published advice on how the boys should be rehabilitated once out of the caves. It asks the public to be considerate of what they publish on social media, and that the boys should not be exposed to images of the incident to avoid psychological repercussions.

Child psychiatrist Dr Tirapon Tungchittipon said they may suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“Survivors of disasters or traumatic events will exhibit varying coping mechanisms depending on the cause of the event and pressures involved. Environmental factors, such as family background, social support, coverage of the event, as well as the opinions of others, all have an impact on a child’s mental well-being,” the guidance says.

Rick Stanton and John Volanthen were the first to reach the 12 boys and their coach inside the Luang Nang Non Cave in Chiang Rai province on Monday. 

It is their voices that can be heard talking to the boys and giving them calm reassurance in a dramatic video released by the Thai navy. They are working with Thai navy SEALs, who are leading the rescue operation. 

Stanton, the retired firefighter from Coventry, and Volanthen, who does IT consulting work in Bristol, have years of experience in cave rescues and have helped map the Luang Nang Non Cave. 

"Brits are probably one of the best cave-diving teams," said Dinko Novosel, head of the European Cave Rescue Commission, even before the search mission proved successful. 

AP

Gary Mitchell, the assistant vice chairman of the British Cave Rescue Council told AP: "They may start to dive them out in small batches into small, into other chambers, other pockets of air, and do that over a staggered period of time."

"Obviously, the biggest risk really is current rainfall. If it keeps raining or starts to rain and water levels rise then there's a bit more immediacy required." 

Drilling an opening would be a problem because of the need for determining with pinpoint accuracy where they are inside the cave. While stressing that the Thai military is in charge, Mitchell believes they are working under the assumption that the group is about 800 meters to a kilometre below the surface — meaning the need to drill through solid rock. 

"Drilling from the top of a jungle mountain ridge is really tricky," he said.

Thai navy SEALs say all 13 people trapped in a flooded cave in northern Thailand are healthy and being looked after by medics. 

SEAL commander Rear Adm. Arpakorn Yookongkaew said that seven members of his unit — including a doctor and a nurse — are now with the 12 boys and their coach in the cave where they took shelter. 

He told a news conference that his team members "have given the boys food, starting from easily digested and high-powered food with enough minerals." 

He said that having the rescued people dive out of the cave was one of several options being considered. If it were employed, he said they "have to be certain that it will work and have to have a drill to make that it's 100 per cent safe." 

He said there was no rush to bring them out as they are safe where they are. 

Here is our latest report from today's events in Thailand:

A miner who spent 69 days trapped underground in Chile says the 12 boys and their football coach stranded in a cave in Thailand should help each other mentally prepare for rescue. 

Omar Reygadas and 32 other miners were rescued in 2010. He says the ordeal was hard for grown men so he can only imagine what the boys, aged 11 to 16 are going through. 

Mr Reygadas said their coach will be a key figure in keeping them motivated. Beyond that they should focus on being reunited with their families.