Rain, health problems threaten cave rescue

Rescuers said Thursday that a group of boys in Thailand were not yet healthy enough to attempt a dangerous underwater dive out of the cave where they have been trapped since June 23, CNN reported. Some of the 12 boys, members of a soccer team stranded with their 25-year-old coach, don’t know how to swim, and all of them have suffered from the mental and physical toll of being stuck so long. Thai rescuers are racing to pump water out of the cave, hoping to create enough room in the passages so the boys could keep their heads above water as they make their way out. But rains expected this weekend could hamper that. “What we worry [about] most is the weather,” Chiang Rai provincial Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn told reporters. “We can’t risk having the flood back into the cave.” Meanwhile, workers are scouring the area for any other possible passages out of the cave.