The water reaches near the entrance to the Thai cave where 13 missing

MAE SAI, Thailand – Muddy floods reached near the entrance of a Thai cave despite attempts to drain water so that rescuers could look further into the complex for 12 boys and their absent coach for a sixth day.

Rescuers are trying to find hidden wells in the green mountainside to access different parts of the cave, while teams are digging wells that could drain water, which would allow divers to escape. advance to passages filled with water. their ceilings. Despite the hard work, the progress of the rescuers was at best irregular, with no guarantee that the water will retreat quickly with the months of the rainy season in Thailand.

The Governor of Chiang Rai, North Province where Tham Luang Nang is located, thanked people in Thailand and abroad for their support, including a US military rescue team and British divers. "We will continue to make efforts no matter how tired we are," Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn said Friday

. He said the divers had been able to work underwater on Thursday, but would not give details of their progress. Divers have oxygen tanks, but must always have enough space between the water and the ceiling to ensure their safety in the muddy waters that fill the rock passages, some as tight as the divers have to bend their bodies to move forward. [19659003] Above ground, four wells were located that could allow access into the cavern and rescuers continued to explore these wells on Friday, Narongsak said.

The team trying to find a way to drain the water until 1 am from 30 meters (98 feet), but did not find any wells, said Ekchawin Longpinit of the Thai Ministry of Groundwater. A dozen workers were working at the same place on Friday morning. "We will continue drilling today, and we will send more drilling equipment to explore more sites to be drilled," said Ekchawin

Boys, aged 11 to 16, and their trainer entered the cave after a football match. Saturday afternoon, but almost constant rains in the days thwarted the search for them. Still, authorities have expressed hope that the group could find dry spots in the cave to wait, and that they are healthy enough and the cave hot enough to stay safe.

Thai researchers were joined by a military research team of about 30 people with British cave experts and several other private teams of foreign "cavers".