New video of the Thai soccer team shows them thanking their rescuers and wishing for their favorite foods, including BBQ pork and KFC
- The 12 rescued members of a Thai soccer team and their coach who were rescued from a cave last week have recorded thank you messages.
- The video was recorded on Friday and shows the boys in hospital gowns thanking rescuers and describing the foods they're looking forward to eating.
- The team will likely be discharged from the hospital on Thursday, and the health ministry has confirmed the players are in good health.
The 12 members of the Thai soccer team who were trapped in a cave for more than two weeks delivered thank you messages from their hospital beds in a video made on Friday.
The boys, aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach are recovering in hospital following their 17-day ordeal inside the Tham Luang cave complex in Chiang Rai.
The boys appear in the video wearing hospital gowns and face masks to protect against potential infectious diseases, which they were able to take off on Saturday. Each of the boys introduces themselves, thanks rescuers and describes their favorite foods.
"Hello, my name is Note. I am healthy. Thank you for saving us," one boy says in the video posted by Channel News Asia.
"Hello, I'm Dom. I'm healthy. I want to eat rice with braised pork leg," says another. One of the boys says he wants to eat KFC while another holds up a drawing he is doing of their Wild Boar soccer team.
The boys have needed to be reintroduced to food slowly and kept on a diet of bland, soft foods. The boys have expressed desire for spicy chicken and barbecued pork, although doctors did compromise and allowed them to have chocolate and bread after their rescue.
Another boy named Adul says in English: "Now I'm very fine. Thank you for helping me. Thank you so much." This seems to be Adul Sam-on, one of the stateless team members who, The New York Times reported, acted as the interpreter between the team and the British divers who found them.
The team's coach also thanked their rescue divers and Thailand's prime minister.
The boys were informed on Saturday about the death of former Thai Navy SEAL diver Saman Gunan. Gunan died while delivering oxygen tanks as part of the rescue mission.
A health ministry official said in a statement that the boys "all cried and expressed their condolences," and observed one minute of silence for the late diver.
"They also thanked him and promised to be good boys," the statement said.
The team are said to be in good health and will likely be discharged from the hospital on Thursday.