As Thai Search Enters Seventh Day, Divers Cling to Hope of Finding Lost Boys

Soldiers and rescue workers are seen during a drill, near the Tham Luang cave complex, as an ongoing search for members of an under-16 soccer team and their coach continues, in the northern province of Chiang Rai, Thailand, June 30, 2018. Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun

CHIANG RAI—Having failed to find any sign of 12 boys and their soccer coach during a week-long search of flooded cave complex in northern Thailand, rescuers held out hope on Saturday, June 30, that the group could have found safety on a rocky mound in one of the chambers.

Divers from the Thai navy’s elite SEAL unit were groping their way through the murky waters filling passages of the 10-kilometre (6-mile) underground maze of the Tham Luang cave, as the rescue effort turned increasingly desperate.