The world rejoiced Tuesday as all 12 members of a youth football team and their coach were rescued after being trapped in a cave for 18 days.
The team, the Wild Boars Football Club, entered the Tham Luang cave with their coach on 23 June, but were trapped as incessant rain flooded the complex. They were discovered alive by British divers on 2 July.
Entering the cave was reportedly a ‘rite of passage’
The trip into the caves was reportedly a “rite of passage”. Some of the local boys had explored the caves before, and their coach was said to be keeping the boys on a strict training schedule to keep them fit and help them bond.
On 23 June, they went on a 45-minute bike ride from their school to the cave. When they failed to return by 7 pm, the Wild Boars’ head coach Nopparat Kathawong realised something had gone wrong. He went to the caves and found the boys’ bikes and bags by the entrance.
By that point, heavy rains had filled the tunnels and cut off the boys’ exit route. They were forced to go forward in the cave along elevated slopes, and found a dry ledge 4 km into the cave, where they were left stranded for days.
The rescue operation
The team and their coach were discovered on 2 July, which is when the risky rescue operation began.
On 10 July, the last of the boys and their coach were brought out of the cave. The news of their rescue has been met with global celebration as well as plaudits for the team of rescue workers run by the Thai navy SEALs.
Cheers, applause, relief at the volunteer site #ThamLuangCave pic.twitter.com/vao6YEih8S
— michael safi (@safimichael) July 10, 2018
The last three navy seals and the doctor who were with the boys in the cave emerged safely hours after the team. In a post on their Facebook page, the SEALs confirmed that all 13 were out of the cave and safe. “We are not sure if this is a miracle, a science, or what,” they wrote.
เราไม่รู้ว่านี่คือสิ่งมหัศจรรย์ หรือวิทยาศาสตร์ หรืออะไรก็ตาม แต่หมูป่าทั้ง 13…
Thai NavySEAL यांनी वर पोस्ट केले मंगळवार, १० जुलै, २०१८
During the rescue operation, the divers had to swim for several kilometres in pitch darkness, and against vicious currents.
Images of cave rescue operation Thailand#ThailandCaveRescue
— NewsBlog | breaking (@NBbreaking) July 10, 2018
Each boy was accompanied by multiple divers who ferried them to safety. Most of the boys didn’t know how to swim, and had to be taught the fundamentals of diving.
Who were the divers?
The multinational rescue team was made of several divers who worked with the navy SEALs. The BBC reports that while the identities of all the divers are not yet known, the team had members from Britain, Australia, Denmark and Belgium.
Britons John Volanthen and Richard Stanton, members of the South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team, were the first to discover the boys. They had been called in by the Thai authorities.
Dr Richard Harris, from Australia, was the one who first examined the boys and gave the go ahead for rescue. Mikko Paasi from Finland and Claus Rasmussen from Denmark are diving instructors in Thailand, and their expertise in cave diving came in handy for the operation.
The rescue operation did have one casualty
One member of the rescue mission, however, passed away due to lack of oxygen Friday, 6 July. The former Thai navy diver lost consciousness on his way out of the complex, where he had been delivering air tanks, the BBC reported.
Air tanks had to be strategically placed along the mile-long passage between the rescue camp and the place where the boys had taken refuge. The journey from the divers’ operating base took hours, and half the journey was against the current.
Every now and then, we see a real hero. This is the last photo taken of Sgt. Saman Kunan before he lost his life on Thursday while returning from delivering oxygen to the boys trapped in the cave. He retired from the Thai Navy, but volunteered to help. pic.twitter.com/xDo27DmJRY
— Trevor Donovan (@TrevDon) July 8, 2018
The boys are no stranger to hard times
One of the boys, Adul Sam-on, is a stateless descendant of a Wa ethnic tribal branch. When he was six, his family escaped a territory in Myanmar known for “guerrilla warfare, opium cultivation and methamphetamine trafficking. His parents slipped him into Thailand, in the hopes that proper schooling would provide him with a better life than that of his illiterate, impoverished family”, reports The New York Times.
Adul played a crucial role in the operation by acting as an interpreter for the British divers. “Proficient in English, Thai, Burmese, Mandarin and Wa, Adul politely communicated to the British divers his squad’s greatest needs: Food and clarity on just how long they had stayed alive,” the report adds.
Three of the boys, as well as their coach, Ekkapol Chantawong, are stateless ethnic minorities, The New York Times reports. They are “accustomed to slipping across the border to Myanmar one day and returning for a soccer game in Thailand the next”. Most of the boys are from impoverished backgrounds.
They will not, however, be watching the FIFA World Cup final live
FIFA had invited the team to watch the World Cup final in Moscow Sunday, but said the boys will not be fit enough to travel, reports the BBC.
“Our priority remains the health of everyone involved,” FIFA said. “We will look into finding a new opportunity to invite the boys to a FIFA event to share with them a moment of communion and celebration.”
The football club Manchester United, which most of the boys support, have invited the Wild Board Football Club and their rescuers to Old Trafford in the upcoming season.
#MUFC is relieved to learn that the 12 footballers and their coach trapped in a cave in Thailand are now safe. Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected.
We would love to welcome the team from Wild Boars Football Club and their rescuers to Old Trafford this coming season. pic.twitter.com/5CGMoD1Msq
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 10, 2018
How the boys stayed calm in the cave
After a widely shared video of the boys surfaced on social media, most viewers were struck by how calm they appeared despite being in a stressful situation. The mother of one of the boys reportedly said it was “astonishing” how calm they were, and it looks like Buddhist meditation was the reason why. The boys were trapped in the cave undiscovered for nine days, and practised meditation to stay calm.
“Turns out that their coach, Ekapol Chanthawong, who led them on a hike into the cave when it flooded on 23 June, trained in meditation as a Buddhist monk for a decade before becoming a soccer coach. According to multiple news sources, he taught the boys, ages 11 to 16, to meditate in the cave to keep them calm and preserve their energy through their two-week ordeal,” reports Vox.
A cartoon of Ekapol peacefully meditating with boars in his lap has been circulating in Thailand. The boys have been depicted as small boars in the media, because of their team name.
After being discovered, they passed time by writing letters to their parents that were carried out by the divers in exhausting 11-hour round-trips.
News.com.au reports that one of them, Duangpetch ‘Dom’ Phromthep, wrote: “I’m fine but it’s a little bit cold. Don’t worry and don’t forget my birthday.”
Ekarat ‘Bew’ Wongsukchan wrote: “Mum and Dad, don’t worry that I (am) missing for two weeks. I will help you at the shop soon.”
Who is Coach Ake?
Known as Coach Ake, 25-year-old Ekapol Ake Chanthawong, was the only adult to accompany the boys into the cave. He was most likely the first to enter, and the last to leave the cave, reports CNN.
Even though he managed to keep the boys safe and calm, Ekapol apologised to their parents through a letter delivered by the Thai navy. “To the parents of all the kids, right now the kids are all fine, the crew are taking good care. I promise I will care for the kids as best as possible. I want to say thanks for all the support and I want to apologise,” he wrote.
Ekapol is a former Buddhist monk and a community worker. Orphaned at a young age, he lived in a monastery for over decade. Though no longer a monk, he reportedly “maintains close ties” with temples and spends time praying and helping with renovations.
The complexity of the rescue operation
In The Atlantic, a veteran cave diver says rescues of this kind are “actually pretty rare”.
“When cave divers get in serious trouble, they usually die. There is no one to rescue, just a body to recover,” the report quotes him as saying.
To get out of the cave,the boys had to dive through the floodwaters that had trapped them there. Many of the boys didn’t know how to swim, and had to be taught to dive.
“Cave diving is a different beast from diving in the open waters. The water can be so muddy that divers have to feel their way out. The passage can be so narrow that you have to take off your oxygen tank. And you cannot simply swim up to safety. By Tuesday morning, divers had miraculously guided all 12 of the boys and their coach out of the cave under these conditions,” The Atlantic reports.