{UAH} Eight boys now rescued from flooded Thai cave complex
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Some of the survivors asked for stir-fried rice after being taken to a hospital. "The kids were all tCHIANG RAI, Thailand — Four members of the youth soccer team trapped for more than two weeks in a flooded cave in Thailand were freed Monday, bringing the total number of boys rescued to eight.
Six hours after operations restarted on Monday morning, rescue workers carried the first stretcher from the mouth of the cave to a waiting ambulance, which then sped away with its lights flashing.
A Thai military official later confirmed that a boy had emerged around 5 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET).
Three more boys were carried out in the hours that followed, according to a post on the Thai navy SEALs Facebook page. That left four boys and the team's coach trapped inside as the operation was called off for the day.
On Sunday, expert divers brought out the first four of the 13 who were stranded in the huge and waterlogged Tham Luang complex. The same divers were deployed Monday because they were familiar the cave, authorities said.
The four boys rescued Sunday were receiving medical treatment at a hospital in Chiang Rai, around 35 miles away. Its eighth floor has been reserved for the soccer team, their coach and their families — who have maintained a vigil by the cave's entrance while the boys have been underground.
Officials said the boys freed Sunday were hungry but in good health, and had asked for holy basil stir-fried rice, a popular Thai dish.
Somboon Sompiangjai, 38, the father of one of the trapped boys, said parents had been told by rescuers that the "strongest children" would be brought out first.
The 12 boys — ages 11 to 16 — entered the massive cave complex on the frontier of Thailand and Myanmar with their 25-year-old coach on June 23. The group became stranded after torrential monsoon rains caused the system to flood and were missing for nine days before being discovered by two British divers early last week.
Ivan Karadzic, a Danish diving instructor who lives in Thailand and who was involved in Sunday's rescue effort as a support diver, said that the operation "went surprisingly well, we were expecting bad things to happen, and they didn't."
He added: "The kids were all totally calm."
Those rescued Sunday traveled more than half a mile underwater, according to Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osottanakorn, who is the head of the rescue mission.
He said that the decision to try to rescue the boys and their coach was made because conditions inside the cave were the best they could hope for and that water levels were low enough after days of good weather that it was possible to walk through long stretches of the passage.
Narongsak said 13 foreign divers and five Thai navy SEALs took part in the key leg of Sunday's rescue: taking the boys from where they have been sheltering and through dark, tight and twisting passageways filled with muddy water and strong currents.
Two divers accompanied each of the boys, all of whom have been learning to dive only since July 2, when the first searchers found them.
The journey had taken as long as five hours from the part of the cave where the boys are to the exit when the water level was high and the current was strong, but that was down to around 2 ½ hours by Sunday, Karadzic said.
Speaking to NBC's "Today" on Monday, he said: "The main challenge is that we are dealing with young kids that are in no way trained to do cave diving."
Karadzic described the cave as "small, hard to navigate and pitch black unless you have artificial lights."
He added: "They are some incredibly strong kids considering they have been through what can only be thought to be an absolute nightmare."
On Friday, the death of a former Thai Navy SEAL diver who lost consciousness while returning from placing air tanks deep inside the caves underscored the risky nature of the operation.
The potential for rising water and the dwindling oxygen levels added to the urgency of getting the team out. Efforts to pump water out of the cave have been set back by heavy downpours.
Narongsak said that experts told him new rain could shrink the unflooded space where the boys are sheltering to just 108 square feet.
The search and rescue operation has involved dozens of international experts and rescuers, including a U.S. military team.
Harvey Weinstein's attorney said Monday that he expects Manhattan prosecutors will file even more charges against the disgraced producer accused of sexual misconduct by dozens of women.
"If there's more, we will deal with them when they come," Benjamin Brafman said after a court hearing where Weinstein pleaded not guilty to assaulting a third woman.
Weinstein also faces two new counts of predatory sexual assault, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison — and prosecutors pushed for new bail restrictions, including house arrest.
Brafman noted that Weinstein — who entered court in handcuffs — had surrendered and said a new bail package wasn't warranted.
"He is currently without a passport and there is a million-dollar bail posted and he has an electronic device on him," Brafman argued in court.
The judge ruled that the previous bail restrictions would remain in place, and Weinstein left the courthouse without a word to a throng of reporters.
In back-to-back news conferences, Brafman and Gloria Allred, the high-profile lawyer representing the third accuser in the indictment, offered clashing views of the case.
Brafman said that after five weeks of investigating — with his client essentially serving as his "paralegal" — he had seen evidence to support Weinstein's contention that all sexual contact was consensual.
He did not provide details but mentioned "witnesses" and "emails."
"His denials are, in my judgment, being confirmed every day," Brafman said, calling allegations of rape "preposterous."
Allred suggested that Brafman pull back on that contention, saying it will be impossible to prove any encounter was consensual without Weinstein taking the stand.
"Are you really willing to have your client face the jury?" she asked. "I doubt that you will take that risk, Mr. Brafman."
She said her client will testify at trial about the 2006 incident, but she declined to identify her or provide any other details.
Weinstein was previously charged with raping a woman in a hotel in 2013 and forcing another to perform oral sex on him after a meeting in his office in 2004. He has also pleaded not guilty to those charges.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office has not said whether it plans to charge Weinstein with more crimes, but in court it asked for orders of protection for "two additional survivors."
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