Moment boy met rescuers

A MEMBER of the Thai soccer team rescued from deep inside a cave complex has told of his joy and surprise when the team were discovered by a pair of British divers.

All 12 players and their coach were last night released from the Chiang Rai Prachanukroh hospital, near the border with Myanmar, where they have been under close supervision since they were rescued from the cave on July 10.

Adun Samon told a media conference in Thailand he told his teammates to be quiet when he heard voices.

“I started to listen and it became reality, the conversation. I asked ... Mig to go down, because Mig was holding the torch. ‘Quickly, go down to have a look, otherwise they might go past us’.”

Adun said the teammate hesitated, so he went and got the torch.

“I greeted them, I said ‘hello.’ I heard ‘hello.’ ... Someone was raising their head above the water and said, ‘hello.’ I went in there and the noise asked: ‘Hello, is anyone there?’

“When they came out of the water, I was surprised. I didn’t know what to talk to them. I said ‘hello’ or something like that. When they said ‘hello’ to me, I said ‘hello’ back. It was so magnificent. I didn’t know questions to ask.

“It took me a while before I could answer them, when they asked me how I was. I answered them, I was so surprised. The person asked me how many of us there were. I said ‘13.’ ... They answered, ‘brilliant’ and the person was very happy knowing there was 13 of us.”

To applause from a crowd watching, a team member told how all he wanted to do was “eat, eat, eat” and how he watched the final of the football World Cup.

“Among us only two persons were supporting Croatia, the rest were supporting France,” he said.

“The team was very happy because they were able to watch the final game of the World Cup.”