Officials have restarted water pumps inside the cave at about 5 pm to drain water out of the cave as workers and volunteers from Chiang Mai-based Ruamjai Or Por Phor Ror built a new dike to divert the flow of water from Doi Phamee away from Tham Luang cave.
A separate team of officials set out today to look for the exit of water flowing out of the cave. An official said that if the water was located, it could be another spot where drilling through the cave wall could be conducted as another way to get into the cave.
Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda who was at the cave with the search and rescue parties said that water pumps would be kept running non-stop to drain water out after heavy rain on Wednesday night which caused water in the cave to rise up, prompting the Seal frog men to suspend their operation.
The minister said that once the water in the cave has receded to a certain level, Seal frog men and foreign cave divers would try to reach Pattaya Beach – a dune in the inner sanctum of the cave where the 13 missing boys and football coach were believed to take refuge.
An unidentified official said that the British cave divers had already gone ahead under the water toward Pattaya Beach.
It was reported that a US search team and their Thai counterparts led by Pol Gen Veerachai Songmetta, the national deputy chief, had located a hole on the top of Doi Pha Mee mountain, but it could not be surveyed yet.
