In the flooded Thai cave which once trapped 12 boys and their soccer coach, just five remain, but this may prove a man too many for the operation to be fully completed in just one more trip.
Unsurprisingly, the last person set to be extracted from the 4km cave network in Chiang Rai province is the 25-year-old football coach Ekaphol "Ake" Chantawong, who oversaw the football team's ill-fated trip in there over two weeks ago.
As of the early hours of this morning NZT, eight of the school boys, aged between 11-16 had been safely rescued from the caves in two separate operations over the past two days.
But head of the rescue operation Narongsak Osottanakorn has told media it may take two more rescue trips to save the entire group because "for safety, the best number is four", the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Four more boys were rescued overnight after the first four emerged yesterday.
This leaves coach Chantawong with the prospect he will remain in the cave two more days as monsoonal rains have hit the region.
But while Chantawong offered his apologies to the parents of the 12 boys in a letter transported out of the caves, both the parents themselves and a close friend of the coach have defended him, and even praised him as a "hero".
Auttaporn Khamheng, 17, is a close friend of one of the members of the Wild Boars football team that was trapped, and is also close to coach Chantawong.
He has cast the coach as a protector of the kids, while expressing concern for his sense of guilt and mental state.
"I love Ake, he's the one I trust, he's the one who takes care of all of the kids," Khamheng said.
"To survive, they are all heroes but the biggest hero is the coach. I'm sure he has done everything for all of the kids in the cave.
"I'm worried he might blame himself, he's the one I worry about the most. I hope to meet them soon, as fast as possible, and I want them to be strong so we can play soccer together again."
The comments come after coach Chantawong apologised to the parents of his players for the incident.
"I promise I will take care of the kids at best. Thank you for your kind support and I would like to say I'm really sorry to you all," Chantawong wrote.
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