Call it a miracle or the combined efforts of thousands — or both — but all 12 members of the Thai boys’ soccer team and their coach have now been rescued after being trapped in a cave for weeks.
The news broke Tuesday morning when the final four children and their 25-year-old coach were saved by Thai Navy SEALs.
For one example of how TV handled the sigh-of-relief moment, watch “GMA” break into an ABC News Special Report here:
WATCH: @ABC News Special Report: All 12 boys and coach successfully rescued from Thailand cave. https://t.co/6zasydhoeq pic.twitter.com/Zllg9fr5RB
— ABC News (@ABC) July 10, 2018
For ABC’s coverage, George Stephanopoulos threw it to Matt Gutman on the scene in Thailand. When Stephanopoulos asked Gutman if the boys were all OK, the reporter said: “Yeah, they seem to be in pretty good shape. From what we hear from health officials here, the first eight that have been brought out and have already arrived at the hospital are doing fine. Two of them are suffering from pneumonia, but that’s easily treatable. And then we have to see the state of the last four boys who came out plus the coach.”
The rescue operation involved guiding the boys through a partially flooded cave system that has already taken the life of one diver who attempted to reach the trapped soccer team. Some sections of the cave required climbing equipment, and one section that was flooded by stormwater was so narrow that the divers needed to remove their oxygen tanks in order to get through.
The trapped soccer team, which consisted of boys aged 11-16, was found last Monday by a team of divers after a nine-day search. It was originally believed that the team would have to stay in the caves until the end of monsoon season, which would last for several more months. But after the rains flooding the cave worsened, a team of 90 rescue divers — 40 Thai, 50 foreign — were sent in to extract them as soon as possible.