CITIZENSHIP *THAI CAVE* STUDENTS

BANGKOK : STATELESS  Thai cave boys/students and coach granted citizenship.

Three boys from a soccer team who were rescued from a flooded cave in northern Thailand last month were granted Thai citizenship on Wednesday, authorities said.

Their 25 year old coach, Ekapol Chantawong, also granted citizenship.

Ekapol and 12/students boys had gone to explore the Tham Luang caves in Chuang Rai province on June 23, when a rainy-season  downpour flooded the cave system and trapped them underground.

They survived for nine days on water dripping from rocks before they were discovered.

An international effort to rescue them ended on July 10, when they all were brought out safely.

Three of the boys and Ekapol were considered  stateless, even though they were born in Thailand, until local authorities checked their qualifications, including birth certificates, and approved their request for Thai citizenship.

The four were also given Thai national identification cards on Wednesday.

''They have all the qualifications,'' said Somsak Kanakam, chief officer of  Mae Sai district  in Chiang Rai.

''All children born in Thailand must have Thai birth certificates in order to qualify for Thai citizenship.''

Citizenship requests for some  twenty other people, most of them children, were also approved, Somsak added. [Reuters].