Cave boys granted citizenship

Thank you: Wild Boars team member Mongkol Boonpiam receiving an identity card from Mae Sai sheriff Somsak Kunkam during a ceremony in Chiang Rai province. — AP

BANGKOK: Three young soccer players and their coach, who were rescued with other teammates after almost three weeks in a flooded cave, were granted Thai citizenship.

All four had been stateless, and their lack of citizenship deprived them of some basic benefits and rights, including the ability to travel outside of Chiang Rai, the northern province where they live.