Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - An eleventh person was rescued from a Thai cave on Tuesday evening, a navy source and a provincial official told AFP, as the dramatic bid to free 12 youth footballers and their coach inched towards a successful end.

“The eleventh is out,” a navy source told AFP, requesting anonymity, but not confirming if the person was a boy or the 25-year-old coach. A provincial Chiang Rai official added “the eleventh was taken to a field hospital.”

It was earlier reported that divers have begun the third phase of the rescue of a youth soccer team trapped more than two weeks in a flooded cave in northern Thailand and aim to bring out the last four boys and their coach Tuesday, the top rescue official said.

The eight boys brought out by divers over the previous two days are in "high spirits" and have strong immune systems because they are soccer players, a senior health official said. Doctors were being cautious because of the infection risk and were isolating the boys in the hospital.

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Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said Tuesday's rescue operation began at 10.08 a.m. and involves 19 divers. A medic and three Thai Navy SEALs who have stayed with the boys on a small, dry shelf deep in the flooded cave will also come out, he said.

"We expect that if there is no unusual condition ... the 4 boys, 1 coach, the doctor, and 3 SEALs who have been with the boys since the first day will will come out today," he told a press conference to loud cheering.

The first eight boys rescued are in good mental and physical health and are asking for chocolate, officials said Tuesday, although two were on antibiotics after being tested for pneumonia.

"Everyone is in a good mental state," Jesada Chokedamrongsuk, permanent secretary of the public health ministry, told reporters at Chiang Rai hospital.

"None of the eight boys has fever today," he added in the clearest yet on the condition of the boys rescued from Tham Luang cave.

The boys, aged 12-16, were the first to be extracted on Sunday and Monday, while the final four and their coach spent a 17th night inside.

Experts had warned of possible long-lasting damage from the ordeal, either through psychological trauma or infections caught in the cave.

Jesada said the group had been given x-rays and blood tests, adding that two presented suspected symptoms of pneumonia but were given antibiotics and were "in a normal state".

He said the group can eat, move about, and talk.

"They (all the boys) will have to stay in the hospital for one week to wait for their results and to see if anything changes," he said.

Thongchai Lertwilairattanapong, Inspector General of the Public Health Ministry, said the first four boys taken out on Sunday were eating normal and plain food.

"They're asking for chocolate. We can see that everything is ok as they're eating well," he said.

The boys remain in quarantine but some of their parents have been able to see their children through the glass.

Thailand has been riveted by the dramatic rescue mission to save the "Wild Boars" team after they first got trapped in Tham Luang more than two weeks ago by rising floodwaters.

Rescuers are racing to extract the rest of the squad and their coach as heavy rains pick back up in the northern province, threatening to complicate the last phase of the mission by reflooding the cave.

*Agencies