At Chamber 3, the endpoint of the underwater section, medics were positioned to receive each boy as he was handed off from the last diver in the chain. At least one account describes a moment early in the extraction when a medic had difficulty removing a full-face mask from one of the first boys brought to Chamber 3; a US military physician intervened to assist. The specific medical condition of each boy at that point — still sedated, recently submerged, cold, transported over three hours through flooded tunnels — required careful immediate assessment.
The first four boys reached the surface at the cave entrance in the late afternoon and were transported by ambulance to the hospital in Chiang Rai. Their identities were not released immediately; the rescue command prioritized medical care and coordination over press briefings in the initial hours. When the news that four boys had been successfully extracted was confirmed, the reaction from the families waiting outside the cave was described in every account as overwhelming.
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## Day Two: July 9
The second day of extraction followed the structure of the first. The operation resumed early on July 9, the divers again assembling through the cave to their positions, the supply lines checked, the medical team at Chamber 3 at their posts.
Four more boys were brought out through the passages on July 9. The extraction procedure was refined based on the experience of the previous day. The divers had learned details of their specific sections that improved the efficiency of each transit. The handoffs between divers at the air pockets between flooded sections were better coordinated.