The boys will be kept in quarantine for the time being.
Published: Wed 11 Jul 2018, 9:16 AM
Last updated: Wed 11 Jul 2018, 8:01 PM
Breaking news, rescue footage from the Thai Navy seals has emerged showing the sedated group being stretchered from the cave.
Video footage of the rescue was published on the Thai Navy Seals facebook page. One boy can clearly be seen with his eyes closed as they are carrying him upwards out of the cave.
The boys rescued from a Thai cave were passed "sleeping" on stretchers through the treacherous pathways, a former Thai Navy SEAL who was the last diver to leave the Tham Luang complex told AFP Wednesday.
The details of the complex operation are among the first to emerge from a rescue effort to save 12 boys and their football coach that has been shrouded in secrecy since it began on Sunday and ended successfully three days later.
"Some of them were asleep, some of them were wiggling their fingers... (as if) groggy, but they were breathing," Commander Chaiyananta Peeranarong said, adding that doctors stationed along the dark corridors of the Tham Luang cave were constantly checking their condition and pulse.
"My job was to transfer them along," he said, adding the "boys were wrapped up in stretchers already when they were being transferred".
Thailand's junta chief told reporters on Tuesday that the group had been given a "minor tranquiliser" to help calm their nerves.
But he denied they were knocked out for the miraculous rescue.
The lack of information about the meticulously planned rescue had baffled observers given that the team were extracted safely.
The members of the "Wild Boars" team, aged 11-16, had no experience in scuba diving, and the death of an ex-Navy SEAL who had helped install oxygen tanks in preparation for the rescue underscored the dangers of the mission.
Thailand said it had called on 13 "world class" divers to help with the unprecedented job, one of whom was Australian Richard "Harry" Harris, a diver and professional anaesthetist.
Rescue chief Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters on Wednesday that the entire operation would not have been possible without the unique skills that Harris brought to the mission, though he did not elaborate.
The international bid to extract the team garnered attention from around the world after the team found themselves trapped on June 23 when they entered the cave after practice and were blocked by floodwaters.
The 12 boys and their soccer coach rescued from inside a flooded Thai cave lost an average of 2 kg (4 pounds) during their 17-day ordeal but were generally in good condition and showed no signs of stress, a senior health official said on Wednesday.
Thais reacted with relief, gratitude and exhilaration after the last group of the "Wild Boars" soccer team was rescued from the Tham Luang cave, near the border with Myanmar, on Tuesday night, ending an ordeal that gripped Thailand and the world.
They were taken by helicopter to a hospital about 70 km (45 miles) away to join their team mates in quarantine for the time being.
"From our assessment, they are in good condition and not stressed. The children were well taken care of in the cave. Most of the boys lost an average of 2 kg," Thongchai Lertwilairattanapong, an inspector for Thailand's health department, told reporters.
Parents of the first four boys freed on Sunday have been able to visit them but had to wear protective suits and stand 2 metres (7 feet) away as a precaution.
Thongchai said one from the last group rescued on Tuesday had a lung infection and they were all were given vaccinations for rabies and tetanus.
The group ventured into the vast cave complex in northern Thailand after soccer practice on June 23 and their rescue dominated front page headlines in Thailand.
"All Wild Boars Saved," read one headline.
"Hooyah! Mission accomplished," read another, echoing the rallying cry of the Thai navy SEALs involved in the rescue.
The hashtag #Hooyah was also hugely popular with Thai netizens wanting to show their support for the hundreds of rescuers, including divers from around the world, who helped to get the boys out.
Rescue mission chief Narongsak Osottanakorn thanked people in Thailand and from around the world soon after the final rescues were completed. A senior Australian police officer acknowledged the degree of international cooperation "in a very unfriendly environment".
"It is amazing what the human being can do. There are extraordinary people doing extraordinary things," Glenn McEwan, the Australian Federal Police's Asia manager, told reporters in Chiang Rai.
'AMAZING NEWS'
Audiences around the world cheered the team's successful rescue after the saga generated messages of help, prayers and - finally - expressions of relief.
The drama in Thailand has even resonated as far as Russia, where soccer's World Cup is reaching its final stages. Players from France and England welcomed news of the rescue and sent their best wishes to the "Wild Boars" on Twitter.
"This victory goes to the heroes of the day, well done boys, you are so strong," French midfielder Paul Pogba tweeted after his team beat Belgium 1-0 overnight to reach the final.
Manchester City and England defender Kyle Walker, whose team faces Croatia in the second semi-final later on Wednesday, said he wanted to send shirts to the boys.
"Amazing news that all of the Thai kids are out of the cave safely!" Walker tweeted.
A Google search on Tuesday for the words "Thai cave rescue" revealed 359 million results, with interest peaking since last week when British divers found the boys and the rescue mission began.
Araya Hargate, one of Thailand's top actresses and a L'Oreal cosmetics brand ambassador, shared a cartoon of the boys surrounded by rescuers on her Instagram page, which has 7.9 million followers.
"After all ... the world is not such a bad place #humanityfaithrestored #thailandcaverescue," the actress, known in Thailand as "Chompoo", wrote.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull praised the courage of the multinational rescue team, which was run by the Thai military, as "one of the most heroic and inspiring episodes of our time".
"It's hard to imagine anything more frightening than being trapped underground in the dark, let alone having your children trapped underground in the dark," Turnbull told the Queensland Press Club.
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