Here Are The First Photos Of The Thai Soccer Team After Their Rescue

The Wild Boars Thai soccer team appears healthy and in good spirits post-rescue

After a dramatic, 18-day rescue effort, all 12 members of the Wild Boards Thai soccer team and their coach have been rescued and taken to a local hospital. It’s an unexpectedly happy ending to a terrifying saga that people watched from all over the world.

Now, the first photos and videos of the boys since their rescue have been released. Again to the shock of many who have followed their rescue, they all appear healthy and in good spirits in hospital photos released by the Thai Government’s Incident Command Press Centre.

Reports say the boys will be kept in the Chiang Rai hospital for at least a week, just to make sure they’re OK. But so far, they seem remarkably healthy considering everything they went through. Each of them lost around 2 kilograms, or 4.4 pounds, during the 18 days they were trapped. They reportedly stayed alive by drinking dripping water inside the cave. According to Thongchai Lertwilairattanapong, an inspector with Thailand’s health department, three of the boys show signs of pneumonia, and one has a cut leg. Otherwise, they’re physically and mentally healthy.

All of the boys have been vaccinated for rabies and tetanus, and their parents are being allowed to see them, though behind a glass partition for now. Once they’re proven to be infection-free, reunions will be happening.

Reporters at the hospital say many of the parents have cried at the sight of their sons, alive and healthy.

The boys are all members of the Wild Boars soccer team. In addition to playing together, they often go on group adventures. They were accompanied by their assistant coach when they went to explore the Tham Luang cave system, where sudden monsoon rains and flash flooding left them trapped. It was nine days before they were found, and another nine before expert divers were able to help all 12 of the boys, several of whom can’t swim, and their coach to safety through miles of narrow, pitch dark and flooded cave passages.