Over a period of 18 days, a team of twelve junior footballers and their coach were trapped in the Tham Luang cave in what was the most publicised survival situation of the decade.
On the 23rd of June 2018 after a hard days football practise, the team entered the Tham Luang cave to do some exploring. The cave is part of a much larger system that runs beneath the Doi Nang Non mountain range, a series of peaks that border Thailand and Myanmar.
The cave is seasonally flooded and between the months of July and November warnings are put in place to stop people from getting trapped. The group thought they would be safe as it wasn’t quite the start of the rainy season yet, and the ground water didn’t seem to be too high.
After entering the cave system and exploring a few tunnels, they didn’t notice the heavy rainfall outside, and due to how the cave is laid out the entrance areas are the first to become flooded. Without even realising they were trapped the group began to make their way back out the cave only to find deep pools of water along their route.
About 7pm the head coach checked his phone to find more than 20 missed calls and texts from worried parents as to their child’s location. He tried his assistant coach but the phone appeared to be off so he started to go through the phone numbers of all the boys in the team. Each phone appeared to be off until he got to a certain 13 year old who was on the team, who told the coach he went straight home from practise and said how the rest of them went to the cave to explore.
The head coach raced to the cave to find a number of bikes belonging to the team parked outside the entrance, and a series of footprints leading into what appeared to be a completely flooded cave.
He alerted the authorities and the biggest rescue operation of the decade was mounted. The British Cave Rescue Council (BCRC) were the first professional cave rescuers on the scene, with member Vern Unsworth scheduled to make a solo scouting mission as he had detailed knowledge of the cave system.
On 25 June a team of Thai Navy Seal’s arrived along with a few other divers to try and find the location of the boys, but after a brief initial dive the search was put off for two days. The constant rainfall had made the water so muddy that it was impossible to see anything underwater, and for safety reasons no one else went in.
By 29 June the search team consisted of Thai Navy Seals, British caving teams, US 31st Rescue Squadron Pararescue divers, Australian federal response group divers and a Chinese team from the Beijing Peaceland Foundation, not to mention hundreds of police and volunteers.
All of these rescuers could do nothing but wait until the rain eased off, as the currents within the cave made it to dangerous. It wasn’t until the 2nd of July that the operation began again, with members of the British Cave rescue council making it to the boys at 10pm.
The group were sitting on a ledge about 400 metres into the cave just past the chamber known as Pattaya Beach. They were so surprised to see the divers that they appeared quite disorientated at first, and asked what day it was.
The group were now found but still far from safe, as it turns out most of the team couldn’t swim. They were joined by 3 of the Thai Navy Seals who brought supplies and stayed with them until rescue was available.
On the 8th of July it was decided to go ahead and pull the boys out the cave, even though they had planned to wait until the water level had dropped, but were now facing an incoming monsoon that could trap them for months.
Divers were sent down who equipped the boys with wetsuits and scuba gear, and then one by one they were escorted out the cave. Every one of the boys made it out alive and in good condition, though one of the divers wasn’t so lucky.
The only fatality in the operation was from a former Thai Navy Seal who made a dive into chamber 3 of the cave and lost consciousness while underwater. His dive partner tried CPR but it was unsuccessful. He was taken above water were CPR was tried again, but couldn’t be resuscitated and at 1am on 6 July, Saman Kunan was pronounced dead.