Thai football players eager to eat their favorite foods while waiting to go home

CHIANG RAI, THAILAND – The 12 boys and their soccer coach rescued from a flooded cave in northern Thailand are recovering well and are eager to eat their favorite comfort foods after their scheduled release. A hospital next week. In the video messages of the boys shown at a press conference on Saturday, they are seen wearing surgical masks – a protection against infection that has been taken since the last of them have been removed of Tham Luang cave Tuesday, ending an 18-day test. . The doctors said that Friday, when the videos would be recorded, would be the last day they should wear them.

The Minister of Public Health, Dr. Piyasakol Sakolsattayatorn, who led the press conference at Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital, said that all 13 – the dozen boys aged 11 to 16 years old and their 25-year-old coach – were to be released from the hospital on Thursday.

"Every 13 people, their physical body is strong and in shape As far as infections are concerned, by the medical assessments of the first days there were some who had minor pneumonia, but now everything is erased, no fever, "Piyasakol said.

Several have also been reported earlier recovering from lung infections and middle ear.

Most of the boys, who were shown in their hospital beds, seemed relaxed, and began their brief statements with a "wai", the traditional Thai greeting with hands raised at chest level with palms together . Some also gave the victory sign on both fingers and raised their fists.

One of 14-year-olds, Ekarat Wongsukchan, whose nickname is Biw, has playfully lifted both his arms in a boxer's victory position while laughter was heard at home. ;background.

"Hello, I'm calling Biw, I'm fine, I want to say thank you to all those who are worried," he said. All 13 offered thanks for the support they received.

Asked by an off-camera interviewer that they were anxious to eat, their wish list included a slowly cooked pork leg with steamed rice, crispy fried pork, roasted red pork , sushi, steak and KFC.

Adul Samon, a 14-year-old stateless person sent to Thailand by his ethnic minority parents on the other side of the border in Myanmar, spoke in Thai and English: "Hello, I am Adul, now I'm fine, thank you very much, thank you very much. "Adul is perhaps the best known of the boys because he spoke English in the video taken inside the cave when the Team members were found by two British divers on July 2, nearly 10 days after being flooded.

In the video of the hospital, he also holds a paper, apparently a drawing of his teammates, which he reports one by one.

Earlier this week, Anna Werner of CBS News spoke with one of Adul's teachers who said how proud she was of him. She called her student "a miracle boy."

Public Health Minister Piyasakol gave a prognosis to boys and said, "Psychologists talk to children, with children, their mental well-being is good today. # 39; hui.

"Even though they are about to leave in the coming days … they are not as strong as a normal person, they still need to rest and rest. improve their health and their bodies, "he said.

A statement from the hospital said that as boys continue to recover, they remain susceptible to infectious diseases. To avoid mental stress, they should spend at least the next month alone with family and friends, avoiding media meetings that could trigger symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, the statement said.

The only casualty of the rescue operation, the former SEAL sailor Saman Gunan, received a posthumous promotion to Lieutenant Commander by King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun and received the royal decoration of Knight Grand Cross (first class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant, the SEALs said Saturday on their Facebook page.

Saman, 38, was a volunteer who had engaged in the important mission of helping to replace the oxygen boxes along the route towards which the boys were hiding to make possible the passage of several hours. He collapsed and died on the 6th of July while diving; According to some officials, his own supply of oxygen has been exhausted. The former SEAL is honored as a national hero, and his cremation ceremony was held Saturday in his home.

In the northern region of Thailand around the cave, which remains closed, more than 4,000 volunteers would have participated Saturday trying to restore the landscape. The landscape was damaged by the massive rescue effort that included flooding and land clearing and the use of heavy machinery.

Earlier this week, members of the football team told family members that the boys intended to stay inside the cave for an hour, but that they were forced to sink deeper into the cave. This morning, "the father of the youngest survivor said that the boys' football coach, Ake, tried to swim to find a way to get out of it, but the water was too fast and too deep, forcing him to turn around

The father, named Tanawut, says that his son, Titan, described the first three days of the cave as the most difficult.The group was hungry and cold. struggling to sleep, and Titan was crying, because he was missing his mother and father.

Tanawut says that he is touched by the actions of the team coach Without him, says the father, he does not know how the children could have survived.