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AFP
Mae Sai, Thailand
THE underwater search for 12 children and their football coach trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand was halted as water levels rose amid relentless rainfall on Thursday.
But search teams, including three British diving experts and US military personnel, continued work above ground despite the setback, scouring the area for entry points to the cave where the team has been stuck since Saturday.
Officials prepared a massive industrial drill to create a new tunnel into the cave close to where the boys are believed to be trapped while drones were dispatched to find other openings.
Heavy rains overnight flooded a second chamber of the 10-kilometre long Tham Luang cave that is notoriously difficult to navigate, even among the most skilled divers.
"Under the current situation it's not possible to dive into the cave, they have to wait until the water recedes,"Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda told reporters Thursday.
"We are preparing to continue pumping the water out so the team can enter the cave,"he added.
A team of American military personnel from the US Pacific Command, including pararescue and survival specialists, arrived at the site overnight to help rescue operations, according to embassy spokeswoman Jillian Bonnardeaux.
"Operators are trained in personnel recovery tactics and techniques and procedures,"she told AFP.
"Essentially what they are looking at is assessing with the Thai authorities the potential courses of action and complementing the efforts underway."
Three British cave divers arrived at the site late Wednesday and tried to go into the cave but had to turn back because of heavy flooding.
They surveyed the site on Thursday as officials said three other chimneys discovered earlier this week were shallower than hoped and did not lead to the cave's interior.
The young footballers, aged between 11 and 16, went into the cave with their 25-year-old coach and were trapped when heavy rains clogged the main entrance.
Around 1,000 Thai Navy SEAL divers, police, soldiers, border guards and officials have been mobilised for the around-the-clock rescue in a remote and mountainous part of Chiang Rai province near the Laos and Myanmar borders.
Tham Luang is one of the longest caves in Thailand and frequently floods during Thailand's monsoon season between July and November, rendering some of its narrow passages difficult to pass through.
There are several air pockets within the complex and the kids are believed to be in a large chamber in the middle of the cave.
