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suspense

Parents of trapped Thai boys don't know if their kids were the ones saved

As the rescue operation continues to extract 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped in a cave in Thailand, the boys' parents have not yet been informed which eight children have been freed and which four remain in the cave.

The boys removed from the cave were immediately taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital. There they will be quarantined "away from the parents for one to two days and will stay in the care room" to check whether they picked up an infection in the cave, said Thai Health Secretary Dr. Jessada Chokedamrongsook.

The families, meanwhile, have agreed to wait together at the entrance of the cave until the entire team has been rescued.

After the rescue is complete, the team will remain hospitalized for another week. In the long term, their parents will be warned to expect psychological trauma from the ordeal. "They may become fearful, clingy, or jumpy; they may fear for their safety," explained Dr. Andrea Danese, a stress and development expert at King's College London, adding that "they may become very moody or easily upset (or, in contrast, they may become detached or numb); or they may develop headache and stomach-ache related to the intense distress."