The rescue mission to save 12 Thai boys and their soccer coach who’ve been trapped in a cave in northern Thailand is complete with all 12 boys and their coach rescued and returning home.
“We are not sure if this is a miracle, a science, or what. All the thirteen Wild Boars are now out of the cave,” the Thai Navy SEALs said on their Facebook page on July 10.
On July 18 — almost a month after they entered the cave and were trapped by the rain — they were released from the hospital and have been cleared to return to their families. The boys also addressed the public for the first time at a press conference, and talked about what they had learned from the ordeal; one boy said he would be “more careful and live my life the fullest.” Another said, “This experience taught me to be more patient and strong.”The 12 boys and the coach were found trapped in the flooded Tham Luang Nang Non cave system a half a mile below the surface by two British divers on July 2. The soccer team, known as the Wild Boars, had been missing since June 23, when heavy monsoon rains flooded the cave and trapped them in a chamber some 2.5 miles from the cave’s mouth.
The mission to rescue them was an extraordinary international operation with hundreds of cave and rescue experts and military personnel from several different countries, including the United States, pitching in. Rescue divers first delivered food and medical supplies, and then an air tube to the boys to make sure they had enough oxygen to breathe. They then escorted them out of the cave on stretchers guided by expert divers, one by one.
“The operation went much better than expected,” Chiang Rai acting Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said, according to the Associated Press.
The initial rescue plan was to wait out the monsoon season, or at least to wait until the boys regained strength. But the threat of more rain loomed, and the situation became more dire. Oxygen levels in the cave had dropped to levels that could become dangerous. And the rescue team had a fatality Friday in 38-year-old volunteer Saman Kunan, who lost consciousness as he was bringing oxygen tanks into the cave because he ran out of air underwater.After the operation to bring them out of the cave began on Sunday, the boys were rescued in three waves: four on Sunday, four on Monday, and four plus their coachon Tuesday.
How did the Thai boys get in the cave?
It was Saturday, June 23. The team of 12 boys — who were all between the ages of 11 and 16 and nicknamed the Wild Boars — had just finished a weekly soccer practice and went to explore the cave with their coach. According to the Wall Street Journal, they had been inside the cave before; this time, they wanted to go further in to write their names on the wall as part of an initiation.
But after they’d entered the cave, heavy rain started falling and the rising water trapped them inside.
The boys tried to dig their way out. With no food and water, they began licking the condensed water on the sides of the cave walls to stay hydrated. And their coach, Ekapol Chantawong, who had trained in a Buddhist monastery, led the boys through meditation sessions to help them stay calm.
“I had no strength at all,” said 11-year-old Chanin Wibulroongreung at the press conference on July 18. “I didn’t think about food because it only made me hungrier.”
As Richard C. Paddock and Muktita Suhartono of the New York Times reported, at first, the governor of Chiang Rai province, where the cave is located, thought a rescue would be “impossible.”
But the effort swiftly became an international collaboration. The US sent 30 people, including 17 members of the Air Force. Rescuers joined from Australia, Japan, China, Myanmar, and Laos. The British Cave Rescue Council headed the cave exploration that eventually found them.
One of the divers on the search team, Ben Reymenants, spoke to Vox about what it was like trying to find the boys:When the divers found the missing boys and the coach, they were huddled on a rock above the water, smiling but emaciated.
Footage of that moment — published on the Thai Navy SEALs’ Facebook page — has nearly 26 million views. Over muffled audio, you can hear one of the rescuers telling the boys, “You have been here 10 days. 10 days. You are very strong, very strong.”
The video made a celebrity out of one of the boys: 14-year-old Adul Sam-on, a stateless refugee from Myanmar who could speak English and helped communicate with the divers.
The rescue mission to save 12 Thai boys and their soccer coach who’ve been trapped in a cave in northern Thailand is complete with all 12 boys and their coach rescued and returning home.
“We are not sure if this is a miracle, a science, or what. All the thirteen Wild Boars are now out of the cave,” the Thai Navy SEALs said on their Facebook page on July 10.
On July 18 — almost a month after they entered the cave and were trapped by the rain — they were released from the hospital and have been cleared to return to their families. The boys also addressed the public for the first time at a press conference, and talked about what they had learned from the ordeal; one boy said he would be “more careful and live my life the fullest.” Another said, “This experience taught me to be more patient and strong.”The 12 boys and the coach were found trapped in the flooded Tham Luang Nang Non cave system a half a mile below the surface by two British divers on July 2. The soccer team, known as the Wild Boars, had been missing since June 23, when heavy monsoon rains flooded the cave and trapped them in a chamber some 2.5 miles from the cave’s mouth.
The mission to rescue them was an extraordinary international operation with hundreds of cave and rescue experts and military personnel from several different countries, including the United States, pitching in. Rescue divers first delivered food and medical supplies, and then an air tube to the boys to make sure they had enough oxygen to breathe. They then escorted them out of the cave on stretchers guided by expert divers, one by one.
“The operation went much better than expected,” Chiang Rai acting Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn said, according to the Associated Press.
The initial rescue plan was to wait out the monsoon season, or at least to wait until the boys regained strength. But the threat of more rain loomed, and the situation became more dire. Oxygen levels in the cave had dropped to levels that could become dangerous. And the rescue team had a fatality Friday in 38-year-old volunteer Saman Kunan, who lost consciousness as he was bringing oxygen tanks into the cave because he ran out of air underwater.After the operation to bring them out of the cave began on Sunday, the boys were rescued in three waves: four on Sunday, four on Monday, and four plus their coachon Tuesday.
How did the Thai boys get in the cave?
It was Saturday, June 23. The team of 12 boys — who were all between the ages of 11 and 16 and nicknamed the Wild Boars — had just finished a weekly soccer practice and went to explore the cave with their coach. According to the Wall Street Journal, they had been inside the cave before; this time, they wanted to go further in to write their names on the wall as part of an initiation.
But after they’d entered the cave, heavy rain started falling and the rising water trapped them inside.
The boys tried to dig their way out. With no food and water, they began licking the condensed water on the sides of the cave walls to stay hydrated. And their coach, Ekapol Chantawong, who had trained in a Buddhist monastery, led the boys through meditation sessions to help them stay calm.
“I had no strength at all,” said 11-year-old Chanin Wibulroongreung at the press conference on July 18. “I didn’t think about food because it only made me hungrier.”
As Richard C. Paddock and Muktita Suhartono of the New York Times reported, at first, the governor of Chiang Rai province, where the cave is located, thought a rescue would be “impossible.”
But the effort swiftly became an international collaboration. The US sent 30 people, including 17 members of the Air Force. Rescuers joined from Australia, Japan, China, Myanmar, and Laos. The British Cave Rescue Council headed the cave exploration that eventually found them.
One of the divers on the search team, Ben Reymenants, spoke to Vox about what it was like trying to find the boys:When the divers found the missing boys and the coach, they were huddled on a rock above the water, smiling but emaciated.
Footage of that moment — published on the Thai Navy SEALs’ Facebook page — has nearly 26 million views. Over muffled audio, you can hear one of the rescuers telling the boys, “You have been here 10 days. 10 days. You are very strong, very strong.”
The video made a celebrity out of one of the boys: 14-year-old Adul Sam-on, a stateless refugee from Myanmar who could speak English and helped communicate with the divers.
Hooyah.....ทีมหมูป่า พบเยาวชนทีมหมูป่าบริเวณหาดทรายห่างจาก Pattaya beach 200 เมตร โดยนักดำน้ำหน่วยซีลดำน้ำวางไลน์เชือกนำทาง ร่วมกับนักดำน้ำจากประเทศอังกฤษ ระยะทางจากห้องโถง 3 ยาว 1,900 เมตร เมื่อเวลา 21.38 น. คืนวันที่ 2 กรกฎาคม 2561 #ThainavySEAL
Posted by Thai NavySEAL on Monday, July 2, 2018
The story struck a happy chord around the world. People from all over tweeted out their excitement upon hearing of the rescue.
Felt pretty good to report this news today: The 12 boys, and their coach have been found alive in a cave in Thailand.