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Brexit Secretary Resigns Over Compromise Plan; Deadly Weather Leaves Dozens Dead or Missing; Rescue Set to Resume After 4 Boys Saved from Thai Cave. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired July 09, 2018 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton. You're watching our breaking news coverage of the ongoing cave rescue in Thailand. And of course, it is a race against time and weather for those rescue teams. Four boys were extracted Sunday, but more rain threatens the mission to save nine people still trapped.

Now the rescued boys were rushed to a hospital while their eight teammates and football coach remain stranded. Doctors are assessing their health and divers are gearing up to restart that rescue.

Now the mission was put on hold overnight. Crews are now refilling oxygen tasks, resting and planning their next move as an entire nation is praying they bring everyone home safely.

For the latest now, CNN David McKenzie joins us once again from Northern Thailand. David, we're at that break now. So, Thai officials said it would be 10-20 hours and we're at 12-14 depending on when they were able to start their restaging. Have you heard anything else about when they will be ready to re-enter that cave?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You can assume that if they do pull the trigger today it will be now or very soon that they will be making their way through the hazardous tunnels. I want to bring you some new video from that dramatic rescue operation that surprised everybody how it seemed it went off without a hitch.

Which is a relative term because of the extraordinarily difficult nature of extraction, divers, rescue workers. They had to pull the boys from the cave. One taken on a helicopter that flew overhead and others streamed down this road in ambulances.

In the mountain behind me, cave system again, there will be this drama unfolding as the international team of divers link up with their Thai Navy SEAL counterparts will be submerging, arriving at those boys. They'll make the difficult decision if it hasn't been made yet, which boys will go through today and which will have to stay.

If they follow the same pattern yesterday, two boys emerging 10 minutes apart and two hours later, two boys 10 minutes apart. They practiced this and drilled this and have teams from all over the world execute it. They will need to see whether or not the rain overnight didn't make enough of an impact they can do it all over again -- Paula.

NEWTON: We certainly hope it can, David. In terms of the four boys that were taken out, what do we know about their condition and what is going on with them now as they remain in hospital?

MCKENZIE: Last week, the hospital officials said that they will be put under some kind of quarantine for a couple of days to make sure they are safe and that they didn't pick up any pathogens inside that cave.

Now we haven't heard that news since then. They might have changed this plan as it has been fluid plan all along. We do know that three of them were relatively well enough to be taken by road, one had to be airlifted back there. No confirmation on which boys officially got out of the cave.

As you can imagine the communities in this area desperate all desperate to know who is out, who remains and what their state of health is. Again, it's worth stressing how challenging technically this rescue is. You have a team, as I described, and by all accounts the two British divers, recreational cave divers, civilians are the ones who are seen as the most experienced in this very specific set of circumstances.

Zero visibility cave, tight spaces, which requires a different kind of diving and mental preparation to dive. Again, we expect them to be leading. That's one of the reasons there was this pause, according to officials, to give the key members of the rescue team a moment to rest and get all the technical aspects in place again for the challenging dive and rescue -- Paula.

NEWTON: David, we've been told again and again how important the drilling is, in terms of drill for this and that and make sure you understand the adversity you may face in the cave. How will that change and how will their prep change? I'm thankful to see the rain has not started behind you yet. How will it change as we await unfortunately more rain in the forecast?

MCKENZIE: That depends. I mean, the worst-case scenario for the boys is there is so much rain they have to pause the rescue attempt completely because the in inundation or necessarily flow of the water there in the cave system is too rapid or too challenging for them to negotiate.

[00:05:11] That would be possibly the worst-case scenario. There might be some temptation to speed up their system because of that rain scheduled in the coming days. They have been very methodical, at least publicly, about this system they put in place.

As you say, they drilled it extensively and according to the governor, managed to beat their own time assessment getting these boys out. So, one is hopeful that they will do it again with such relative efficiency today.

NEWTON: Yes, absolutely. Hopefully there were lessons learned from the way it went off the first time because it was so successful. Again, excruciating wait for those families. David McKenzie there for us near the entrance to that cave and we will get more updates from him in the next few minutes. Appreciate it, David.

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has been standing by listening to that. Obviously, all important looking at that forecast. We talked about it so much. I see David does not have a downpour yet. How much time before they really are inundated with a lot more rain?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I would say probably sometime Tuesday and Wednesday. Later this afternoon I wouldn't be surprised if we get rainfall where David is. We're seeing the patterns shift. The word, monsoon, talking about a shift in the wind pattern.

That's where the word comes from and that's precisely what is happening from the east out towards the west. We're seeing tremendous moisture beginning to build. So, this is not one storm that comes in, it's an entire pattern shift in July and typically it moves away again come October. Certainly, the next couple of months going to be a wet one.

You just see the pattern the 23rd of June and multiple days of heavy rainfall and a quiet period you don't see very often in a monsoon system with multiple days of no rainfall at all in this region and gradually seen that trend begin to shift towards a weather one.

Models over the next two or three days, every single afternoon and evening bringing in rain Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We look at how much rainfall is expected, maybe 4 millimeters, more than the last several days and work your way Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday, those would indeed be the wettest days in the last 16 or so the boys are in the ground there.

So, certainly puts it in perspective of how much water comes down and it does want to stay wet towards the end of the week. These 7-day models put upwards of 200 millimeters, not just water from the sky, we talk about everything funneled into the valleys and cave systems themselves, we're talking tens of thousands of liters of water and being funneled down to the cave system, a very scary situation in the next few days.

NEWTON: No telling how fast the water can accumulate in those caves or when that will happen. Pedram, thanks so much. Appreciate that.

I take note of the fact that it quite dry for a long time we have to be thankful for that, as are the families, of those trapped boys. Now the long vigil continues and now appears to be in its final anxious hours.

Parents and other family members have been glued to those news reports praying for that moment when they can be reunited with their loved ones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SALSHA PROMJAK, AUNT OF TRAPPED BOY (through translator): It's like I'm counting every second. I want to see his face. I want to see how he gets out, how they get him out. I am so happy.

KLAWAKHAM CHANTAPHOON, GRANDMOTHER OF TRAPPED BOY (through translator): Grandma loves you the most in the whole world. I miss you dearly. I think every country, everyone helps the kids to get out. It's like a miracle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: OK. All the details tell us that this rescue mission in Thailand is extremely difficult and complicated. We've learned that over and over again as we've had the details, joining us now to explain the dangers and challenges more specifically is Christine Dennison, a remote expeditions specialist and the cofounder of Mad Dog Expeditions.

You know I have to ask you, what did you think when you heard that they did get the first four boys out. In relative terms it didn't take them as long as they had expected.

CHRISTINE DENNISON, REMOTE EXPEDITION SPECIALIST: Hi, Paula. I thought they followed their dive plan, it all came together, and it worked. When it happens that way, it's kind of a textbook situation, which is what they all strive for. These are the consummate professionals, extremely talented teams of cave divers that formulate their plan and they are working with a lot of extra help and volunteers that are on the scene, and they are working as a whole.

[00:10:13] It's not just one person or team that are trying to get these boys out. It is cumulative work of very talented people that have that one vision and goal to get them out and that takes a lot of planning, which is what they've been doing for the past several days, 24/7.

NEWTON: Yes, absolutely with the tiniest detail being considered. Christine, so now that they are set to hopefully to being perhaps this hour even. We are still waiting to hear. Is there a chance that with the knowledge of how the first boys came out that we can expect that more of them can perhaps come out in this kind of a tandem dive, perhaps try and get all nine of them out at once or they can at least shorten the time that it takes to actually get through that cave?

DENNISON: There are so many factors at play here that we're not privy to. That would really be the conditions within the cave. As we've been told it changes very quickly. Everything goes according to plan and working as it did with the weather. Everyone is hitting their marks in that cave.

I think we'll have the same level of success bringing four of them out. I don't think they would try and work to bring all of them out unless they're making great timing, and that would really entail that they have areas where they don't have as many restrictions, where the water has receded and allows them to move a little faster. If that's not the case, it will all the same amount of time if not a little longer. They are still going to be very, very cautious and not just watching the condition in the cave but also the conditions of these boys, and how they're moving along, how they're feeling, we don't know.

We assume that they are all stable. They're with a team of doctors at the moment watching them. We just hope that if everything goes according to plan, we can expect another four within the next 12 hours.

NEWTON: We definitely hope so. I want to ask you, in terms of the rescuers themselves, we have to remember we've already had one tragic loss from this, Saman Gunan, who is a Thai Navy seal lost his life, ran out of oxygen in trying to get those oxygen canisters into the cave. He was an expert diver.

This made the dangers that these boys face in that cave system really made it so stark. What kind of pressure is for the rescuers themselves especially since they've already been very successful at one rescue attempt, how much is there a danger that fatigue can set in at this point?

DENNISON: That's a good point. Fatigue is something they're all very aware of. These rescuers are working not just against time, but they are fatigued, they are stressed. They want to get them out safely and themselves out safely.

So, there's a lot of added external pressures psychologically, physically, they will take their time. These are again very seasoned cave divers that understand the dangers. One thing I do not believe they would do is compromise themselves or the others really to stick to some kind of timeline that may not work.

We had a terrible tragedy a few days back and again, we don't know all the details. Fatigue could certainly be an issue, you're not thinking straight when you're under extreme duress and you're tired. Running out of air is very, very tragic.

NEWTON: And important to note that those rescuers are risking their lives and they have families and loved ones as well, who are obviously riveted, just waiting for the rescue to be successful and also for their loved ones to return home safely. Christine, I can't thank you enough for being with us giving us the expertise none of us had in cave diving before this incident. We continue to keep a close eye in Northern Thailand. Appreciate it.

Now, the U.S. president will kick off a busy week with a highly anticipated announcement. Ahead, the candidates he's considering to become the Supreme Court nominee.

Plus, we return live to Thailand for more breaking news, the latest as divers get ready to save the rest of a youth football team.

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NEWTON: A British woman has died after being exposed in England to the nerve agent, Novichok. Now police say the death of Dawn Sturgess is now being investigated as a murder. Her partner, Charles Rowley remains in critical condition after also being exposed to the same nerve agent used to poison a former Russian spy and his daughter in March.

They did not die in those incidents. Investigators, though, are now trying to determine if those two cases are connected. The Novichok nerve agent was first developed by the Soviet Union but Russia denies any involvement.

Now in another stumbling block to Britain's efforts to leave the European Union, Brexit Secretary David Davis has resigned. He said that he wasn't willing to be a reluctant conscript to a compromised plan agreed up Friday.

The plan would press for a free trade area for goods with the E.U. and maintain close ties. Other conservative lawmakers criticized the compromise saying it offered Brexit in name only. Prime Minister Theresa May faces parliament Monday night.

Meantime, the U.S. president has a big week ahead. Donald Trump is scheduled to announce his nominee for the Supreme Court Monday night. After that, it's the NATO Summit in Brussels followed by a visit to the U.K. Finally, on July 16th, President Trump is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland.

Boris Sanchez has all the details.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump is getting set to make a historic announcement Monday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, his nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.

[00:20:06] Of course, the backdrop of that decision is the news over the weekend that the president's attorney, Rudy Giuliani has laid out some very specific demands of the special counsel in order for President Trump to testify. Though President Trump has repeatedly said he wants to sit down with Robert Mueller.

Giuliani laid out a list of demands, one of them, being that the special counsel has to provide evidence that there is suspicion of wrongdoing on behalf of the president. Giuliani has openly said that he does not believe Robert Mueller will comply with all of these demands.

He is effectively setting up a situation where the special counsel would issue a subpoena to try to compel the president to testify. That is something that Giuliani says he will challenge in court.

Here's more from the former mayor of New York Sunday morning on "STATE OF THE UNION" speaking to Dana Bash. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP: I have no idea what he will do. I think if he does, we could have the subpoena quashed. To subpoena the president has never been done successfully in the history of this country. There is very, very strong law that the president cannot be subjected to criminal process.

There's very good argument (inaudible) opinion governing Mueller says that, but certainly constitutional (inaudible). The reality is that we have a very strong argument that they have not made a case for an interview.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: It appears that the president's legal team would prefer this court battle to the president actually testifying. This is all unfolding during a very busy week for President Trump. He doesn't only have that Supreme Court decision, he's also headed to Europe to meet with NATO allies and to visit the United Kingdom, and also one- on-one sit-down with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Boris Sanchez, CNN, traveling with the president, near Bedminster, New Jersey.

NEWTON: Now for more on the president's busy week, Peter Mathews join us now from Los Angeles, a political legal analyst and a professor of political science at Cypress College. Thanks for being with us.

What a calendar he's got on the week upcoming, but to go first to the Supreme Court he says he will make his announcement about a nominee at 9:00 p.m. primetime Monday night. If there was ever any doubt the president like his primetime moments, no longer. You see the list of candidates there.

Now, you know, we are showing six candidates and yet President Trump himself seems to indicate that he has it down to three, perhaps four. What do you think is principle in his mind in terms of making his decision at this point?

PETER MATHEWS, POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it's between Kavanaugh, Hardiman and Amy Barrett, who is the only woman in the nomination running right now. But I think the principle is he wants to make sure that this nominee will abide by the principles the Republican Party has is to basically overturn Roe v. Wade.

That's been the party platform and Trump promised that to his followers. He will try to hide it by not bringing up the issue or saying that the Senate should not bring it up either (inaudible) process. I'm sure he wants that to be in there and he has to pay off his supporters, the hard-core supporters who support overturning Roe v. Wade, very troublesome for American women specially.

NEWTON: With those two of those three candidates that you talked about, they haven't really purposely and very exclusively stated their opinion on abortion. They are, of course, conservatives. What I'm getting at is do you think, in terms of the conservative base, if he does not appoint someone who is very strong on the issue of abortion, that his base will think it's essentially a failure? MATHEWS: I think a big part of his base is the evangelical fundamental Christians, Christian right for example, a good percent might drop out of his support and stay home out of their feeling like he didn't stick to his guns, stick to what he promised.

That's 40 percent of the Republican primary voters belong to that Christian fundamentalist group, so it's a large chunk of the party and if they get disillusioned and 10 percent stay home in midterm elections or even in 2020, he's in trouble. I think he will have trouble if he doesn't stick with someone wanting to overturn Roe v. Wade.

NEWTON: It is a reality show in the making, he wants it that way, 9:00 p.m. Monday night announcement and we all wait for that decision. He claims he hasn't quite decided. One wonders what that phone call is like, if you're a candidate waiting in the wings.

MATHEWS: The whole country will be awake at that time, 6:00 in the west coast and 9:00 on the east coast.

NEWTON: Exactly. He knows what he's doing. It's primetime for a reason. And moving on to then the rest of the week, you know, dealing with the NATO meeting in Brussels, he has taunted nearly every ally around that table. Do you think he will find a way to perhaps look like the peacemaker?

[00:25:03] Because he does at times find ways to be slightly more magnanimous to keep us all guessing, or do you think he will go in there again reinforcing the point that most NATO members are not paying their way?

MATHEWS: Again, it's very unpredictable, he can go both ways. The reason he may try to be magnanimous is because so far, the other way he really turned off so many allies in NATO and demanding that they pay 2 percent of GDP into the defense. The U.S. pays 3.5 percent and Germany 1.2 percent, but Britain over 2.2 percent or so.

So, it all depends in what he wants to do. I think he will think about his base once again. He has to be the tough guy against our allies and cozy up to Mr. Putin. It seems like the base wants him to do, stand up in a contrary way than regular American leaders have done in the past.

NEWTON: Yes, incredible, you know, just the optics going to that Brussels meeting to then meeting Theresa May and the queen and then to Vladimir Putin especially as we're all dealing with this latest scandal in Britain as well and a murder investigation.

Quickly, before I let you go, do you think there is any kind of chance during the NATO meeting specifically and Theresa May and the follow-up they will be able to perhaps temper his mood a little bit?

MATHEWS: I think it's very possible that he will temper it temporarily. Then he can reverse himself the next day or the next week with one tweet. That's the problem. I don't think he should be aggressively anti-Russia or anyone. He's actually tried to be accommodating, more measured, and balance in foreign policies.

Make sure our friends and allies are happy and content and trust us and that the Russia knows that we demand sort of things with them before we're going to be on good terms with them. He needs to be presidential and that still hasn't been forthcoming yet in my view.

NEWTON: Peter, so many issues, so little time. Thanks for being with us. We didn't even get to the Mueller inquiry. That will be waiting for him when he comes back from this trip. So, thanks, Peter. Appreciate your time.

MATHEWS: A big week coming up. Thank you.

NEWTON: Now after the break, we will update our top story and look at how the rescue of these trapped boys unfolded over the last two weeks.

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[00:30:00] PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Paula Newton, the headlines this hour, another blow to British Prime Minister Theresa May's efforts to leave the European Union. Brexit Secretary David Davis resigned late Sunday. Even he wasn't willing to be a reluctant conscript to a compromised plan to maintain close treating ties with the European Union.

A British woman has died after being exposed to the same nerve agent used in March to poison a former Russian spy and his daughter in England. British police are now launching a murder investigation of the woman's partner who was also exposed, remains in critical condition. The Novichok nerve agent was first developed by the Soviet Union, but Russia denied any involvement.

At least 10 people were killed when a train derailed in northwest Turkey, 73 others were injured. Government officials are blaming heavy rain and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is promising to launch an investigation. More than 360 people were on board the train, headed to Istanbul from near the border, with Greece.

And we continue to track breaking news out of Thailand, rescue teams are watching the weather as they're set to restart efforts to save a youth football team. Four boys were pulled safely from the flooded cave on Sunday. Their eight teammates and their coach remained trapped with more rain, unfortunately, in the forecast.

Now, experts from around the world are working furiously to extract the rest of those young Thai boys from darkness and danger. Polo Sandoval looks back at two weeks of search and rescue drama that had gripped the entire world.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the Wild Boar soccer team before becoming trapped beneath the mountains of northern Thailand. On June 24th, the 12 boys and their 25-year-old coach, left their bikes at the entrance of a cave and went in, unaware rain water would soon flood them in. It would be a week before anyone from the outside world would reach them. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRITISH DIVER: How many of you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirteen.

BRITISH DIVER: Thirteen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BRITISH DIVER: Brilliant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: These are some of the first images showing the 12 trapped boys, huddled together on a rocky ledge.

BRITISH DIVER: You are very strong.

SANDOVAL: The footage was shot July 2nd, by a team of British divers. The days had followed included tireless rescue efforts involving Thai navy seals and volunteers from Europe, Australia, Asia and the U.S. On July 6th, a tragic reminder of how dangerous the situation is. Sergeant Saman Kunan, a retired Thai navy seal, died as he returned from an operation to deliver oxygen tanks to the group.

The boys' worried parents received their first direct communications from their children in more than two weeks. Handwritten notes brought from the depths of the cave by navy seals. We need hope after a team of divers emerged from the network of underground tunnels with four of the boys, alive. Rescuers are locked in the race against time, they're pumping water out of the cave system.

Oxygen levels are also depleting and other threats impeding monsoon rain that's likely to flood the cave even more, sealing off access, long term. As for the parents, they continue their wait in agony at the entrance of a cavern's labyrinth. Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

NEWTON: Now, days of deadly rain in south-western Japan are finally coming to an end. And now, residents and emergency workers are trying to dig out and assess the damage from massive flooding and landslides. Dozens of people have died. At least 75 and more than 50 people remain missing. The government calls it a disaster of historic proportions. As Kaori Enjoji reports, though the rain is clearing up, the danger isn't over.

KAORI ENJOJI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The death toll continues to mount across Japan as more bodies are being found after torrential rains triggered landslides and mudslides and flooding throughout the country over the weekend. Some 56,000 troops have been mobilized from Japan's self-defense forces which are basically the military to try and get helicopters, boats, rafts, to bring people to higher ground and towards safety. The problem has been that this devastation has occurred through large parts of the country, from south-western areas of Kyushu, all the way to the central area of Japan as well. [00:35: 11] And they're saying that some of the remote areas, they

haven't really been able to get access to. So they really don't know the full scale and intensity of the damage across parts of this country. The weather agency says that the rains have stopped and there are no rain warnings, per say, today here in Japan on Monday. But as you can see, there's still sporadic rain in some -- in some areas and the land has been so wet over the last few days that any kind of motion, even a light rain can trigger further mudslides.

And so they're urging people to be very vigilant. Some tens of thousands of people spent the night in evacuation centers across the country and I think the rescue efforts are going to be compounded by the fact that there's very little access to some of these centers because train lines, some of the local train lines are still halted and the highways are closed as well.

And temperatures are going to be rising today. Forecast to some 30, 32 degrees in some of these areas. So you're looking at possibility of dehydration, especially among some of the vulnerable parts of the population like the elderly. And remember, in some of these remote areas in Japan, you're talking about a very, very aged and rapidly aging population in some of these areas.

So, it's still a very precarious situation in Japan after a very harrowing weekend of torrential rain and flooding. The vulnerability of some of these areas are still -- continues to be very high. That's the latest from Japan. I'm Kaoji Enjoji.

NEWTON: OK, coming up, the global efforts to rescue the Thai soccer team from their flooded cave, continues. We are live in Thailand with an update.

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NEWTON: And now, for a quick recap on our breaking news out of Northern Thailand, rescuers are looking to resume their high-risk mission to save a youth football team. Now, four of the boys were pulled from a flooded cave on Sunday and rushed to hospital. Their eight teammates and coach remained trapped. Rescuers put the mission on hold overnight, though, and more rain is unfortunately in the forecast.

And officials say they want to make sure, of course, that the conditions are stable before they restart that operation. Waiting for it to restart is our own David McKenzie. David, you know, when you and I were talking some 24 hours ago, we didn't even know that this kind of a rescue was possible. We now know that it is. How has the family members, the community there, all of Thailand, really, what's it like for them, waiting for this next phase to start?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's incredibly difficult, but I want to give you the latest news right now. According to a senior Thai military official, we spoke to who's inside those (INAUDIBLE) on-going to decide -- excuse me, the large truck passes by me, to decide whether they will continue this rescue operation in the mountain behind me. [00:40: 06] Now, that official is saying that they have as of a few

minutes ago, not yet re-entered or restarted that rescue operation that they're still having meetings, which means that the timeline has slipped somewhat from yesterday already about an hour earlier than where we are now. They had already begun that rescue operations.

Clearly to tell if there's some kind of hitch or if they just deliberating carefully because of the heavy rains overnight. But as of yet, that rescue hasn't began again, and that will leave, certainly, I'm not in the stomach of many of those parents waiting to hear if they will start this hazardous journey again at all today.

NEWTON: You know, David, how important has it been? I know that the boys (INAUDIBLE) everyone's pulling for them, including their families. How important has that been, the psychological well-being of those boys as they await th rescue?

MCKENZIE: Well, the expert divers and the people we've been talking about and talking too on air for several days now have all said the psychology of this rescue attempt is as important, perhaps, as the technical aspect. One of the key factors is for the boys to remain calm, no matter the exact circumstances of how they are being brought out there.

What we do believe is that it'll be a very traumatic experience to be pulled through those tight caverns with zero visibility. And even before put on that full face mask, just motivating them to say the rest of the world is watching, has been very important. They've managed to pass handwritten notes from the parents of the boys. The boys have written back to the parents.

The schools in those areas have all been closely watching, praying, and hoping that their classmates, their sons, their cousins, will come out of this cave. Again, today, only four are out. There's a lot to go and it could be a long few days while they negotiate with very challenging rescue. Again, hey haven't began this operation today. Too early to tell if that's truly significant or not, but it is delayed as compared to yesterday's rescue operation and they've been keeping a pretty tight schedule up to now, Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, we will keep our fingers crossed. You will be back with us in just a few moments. David, thanks again for that update and thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Paula Newton. World Sport is next and I'll (INAUDIBLE) I'll be back at the top of the hour. We'll give you so much more on this on-going -- on-going cave rescue in Thailand as those officials remain in meetings, waiting to see if they can re-enter that cave. You're watching CNN, the world's news leader.

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