Rescuers shun spotlight after cave heroics
Looking relaxed as they sat up on their hospital beds yesterday, wearing face masks but with smiling eyes, four young boys turned to the camera. Thailand’s young footballers had come home.
Thailand basked in the glow of a spectacular international rescue mission that gripped the world by successfully extracting 12 young boys and their football coach, 25, from the flooded depths of the Tham Luang cave in northern Chiang Rai province.
The photo, released by the authorities, confirmed earlier health official reports that the boys were relatively unscathed despite being confined for more than two weeks in an airless, damp cavern, 4km from the cave’s mouth.
To escape, the boys had to dive through deep and muddy monsoon rainwater filling a jagged passageway, that at one of its most challenging points was just 38cm high.
The children, kept calm by anti-anxiety drugs, were guided by a specialist team of Thai Navy Seals and international cave divers, spearheaded by Britons including John Volanthen, 47, and Rick Stanton, 56, who had initially discovered the boys on July 2, more than a week after they had gone missing. Seven British experts, considered to be among the most experienced cave divers in the world, played a pivotal role in the daring extraction operation. They did not wish to speak to the media yesterday.
Some were spotted leaving Chiang Rai airport for home, while others enjoyed a wellearned rest and Thailand’s grateful hospitality at one of the city’s finest hotels before reportedly heading out to an official party to celebrate their success.
The men, who have shunned attention while focusing on their demanding mission, are being feted as heroes in Thailand and at home.
Lord Ashcroft, the former Conservative Party treasurer, suggested that Volanthen and Stanton could be awarded the George Cross, the highest civilian honour in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Others, including Tracey Follows, the businesswoman, called for the pair to be given knighthoods.
A source close to the mission said that the Britons had been elevated to a leadership position in the international mission after their astonishing discovery of the children, captured in a video where the emaciated boys calmly ask whether they can now leave the cave.
Key information from the Brits about the boys’ location and condition has been fed through a chain of command that flowed through US forces on site to the interior minister and ultimately to General Prayuth Chan-ocha.
It was reportedly the prime minister himself who gave the green light for the audacious three-day rescue mission that began on Sunday.
The words ‘‘it’s a go’’ were then relayed to a daily command centre briefing on the eve of the daunting mission.
The success of the dramatic operation has already spurred moves towards a Thai cave rescue blockbuster. Even before the boys have been reunited with their parents, Pure Flix Entertainment was already seeking movie rights, reported Variety.
– Telegraph Group