THAILAND NATION REJOICES

MAE SAI, THAILAND : Rescuers braced for a difficult evacuation for 13 members of a Thai youth  Football team found alive in a cave nine days after they went missing -

As a phone cable was hurriedly fed - Into the underground chambers in the hope of allowing them to speak to their families for the first time since their ordeal began.

The 12 young boys and their football coach were discovered rake thin and hungry on a mound of mud surrounded by water late Monday, ending an agonizing search that captivated a nation.

A team of Thai Navy Seal divers - including a medic have joined them on the bank, while rescuers pore over evacuation plans from the Tham Luang cave complex in northern Thailand before heavy rains return and raise the water level.

Much needed food and medical supplies   -including  high-calorie gels and paracetamol  -reached the group on Tuesday as rescuers prepared for a prolonged extraction operation.

The boys were discovered on Monday by British divers  some 400 metres from where they were believed to be stranded, several kilometres inside the cave.

As the first footage of kids spread across social media  in the early hours of Tuesday, jubilation erupted across a country which has been glued to each twist the massive rescue operation.

Video posted on the  Thai Navy Seal  Facebook Page, shows one of the boys asking the rescuers to  ''go outside''.

In response the  British diver says : "No, no, not today........many people are coming .....we are first."

The harrowing task of getting the boys out is fraught with challenges.

Relatives led the outpouring of joy at the dramatic discovery of the boys perched on the muddy bank [AFP]