Part-time cave-diving legends were Thai authorities’ first port of call to lead rescue
‘Cool, calm’ ex-firefighter and IT worker aided past missions
WHEN authorities in Thailand were assembling a group of rescuers to search for a soccer team lost in a f looded cave, one of their first calls went to a retired firefighter and an IT consultant in England.
Rick Stanton and John Volanthen were the first to reach the 12 boys and their coach inside the Luang Nang Non Cave in Chiang Rai province on Monday.
It is their voices that can be heard talking to the boys and giving them calm reassurance in a dramatic video released by the Thai nav y. They are working with Thai nav y Seals , who are leading the rescue operation.
Mr Stanton, a retired firefighter from Coventry, and Mr Volanthen, who does IT consulting work in Bristol, have years of experience in cave rescues and have helped map the Luang Nang Non Cave.
“They are probably one of the best cave-diving teams,” said Dinko Novosel, head of the European Cave Rescue Commission, even before the search mission proved successful.
It’s not the first time Mr Stanton and Mr Volanthen have lent their expertise to an international rescue ef for t.
Mr Stanton, who was made an MBE in 2012 previously described his most memorable lifesav ing ef for t as the 2004 rescue of six soldiers trapped by rising f loodwaters in Mexico.
“They were trapped for nine days, and we had to teach a few of them to dive through a considerable length of passage to get them out,” Stanton told the ‘Coventry Telegraph’ in 2012. “It took about nine hours to get them all out.”
Mr Stanton also tried to rescue French cave explorer Eric Establie in 2010. Establie’s remains were discovered in southern France after a dramatic eight-day operation.
Alex Daw, a West Midlands Fire Ser vice watch commander who supervised Mr Stanton for six years, said his experience as a firefighter serves him well. Besides that, Mr Stanton also is known as a tinkerer — a technician always making sure his equipment will help him go “far ther, further under water, in the dark”.
“If the kids have got someone there like him, they’re safe,” Mr Daw said without hesitation. “He’s cool, calm and collected.”
Mr Volanthen was Mr Stanton’s partner on the French rescue attempt.
Mr Volanthen told a newspaper in 2013 that cave diving is not the pursuit of those who crave thrills.
“The f light response now isn’t always appropriate,” he said.
“Panic and adrenaline are great in certain situations, but not in cave-diving. The last thing you want is any adrenaline whatsoever.”
Both men are members of the South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue team. A third Briton, Robert Harper, is working with them in Thailand after Thai authorities contacted the British Cave Rescue Council for help when the boys disappeared on June 23.
The British divers lef t London on June 26 with special rescue equipment, including radios designed to work in caves.
British cavers have helped survey and catalogue many caves in Thailand because there are only a few people with such experience in the countr y, the council said in a statement last week.
“Many British cavers, including specialist cave divers, active on such expeditions, also ser ve as volunteers in cave rescue teams across Britain and Ireland and bring with them valuable knowledge of the layout of overseas cave systems,” the council said.
The euphoria of finding the soccer team and their coach alive has quickly turned to the sober reality of how to extract them from the cave.
Heav y rains are forecast, and that could worsen the f looding in the cavern, possibly forcing authorities to have them swim out through a narrow, underwater passage.
Gary Mitchell, the assistant vice chairman of the British Cave Rescue Council, said that helping the boys dive out could take time, particularly since they are assumed to have no diving experience and because they will be in a weakened state.
“They may star t to dive them out in small batches, into other chambers, other pockets of air, and do that over a staggered period of time,” he said.
“Obviously, the biggest risk really is current rainfall. If it keeps raining or star ts to rain and water levels rise then there’s a bit more immediacy required.”
Drilling an opening would be a problem because of the need for determining with pinpoint accuracy where they are inside the cave. While stressing that the Thai militar y is in charge, Mr Mitchell believes they are working under the assumption that the group is
about 800m to a kilometre below the surface — meaning they need to drill through solid rock.
“Drilling from the top of a jungle mountain ridge is really tricky,” he said.
Thai searchers also have been hunting for a fissure that might lead to a shaft that could be a “back door” to where the team is sheltered. So far, they have not found one that goes far enough.