(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) – Tourists have entered Thailand’s Tham Luang cave for the first time since the dramatic rescue last year of 12 boys and their football coach.
Some 2,000 visitors flocked to the cave on Friday, hoping to be among the first to enter, the Bangkok Post reports.
The Wild Boars youth team caught the world’s attention when they got trapped in the flooded cave for 17 days.
They were all eventually freed in an international rescue effort that involved more than 90 divers.
The cave in Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai province was officially opened to tourists in an inauguration ceremony on Friday.
Jongklai Worapongsathork, the deputy director-general of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, led the ceremony, which was attended by monks, government officials and park rangers.
Officials allowed 20 people at a time to visit the cave’s first chamber, which will now be open to visitors from 08:30 to 16:30 local time (01:30-09:30 GMT), according to the Bangkok Post.
