Thai boys planned to be in cave for 1 hour
BANGKOK (Reuters) — Twelve boys and their soccer coach rescued from a flooded cave in Thailand planned to explore the cavern complex for only about an hour before treacherous flood waters rose to trap them for more than two weeks, one of the boys’ fathers said.
All 12 of the boys and their 25-year-old coach were brought to safety over the course of a three-day rescue, organized by the Thai navy SEALs and an international team of diving and caving experts that ended on Tuesday.
They had gone into the Tham Luang cave in the northern province of Chiang Rai on June 23, for a quick excursion after soccer practice, when a rainy season downpour flooded the tunnels.
“He told me that as soon as they finished practice they went to play at the cave. They thought they’d only be an hour,” Banpot Korncam, father of the 13-year-old captain of the “Wild Boars” team, told media.
John Volanthen, one of the two British divers who found the boys, commended the Thai SEALs who helped in the rescue.
“We’re not heroes,” he told the BBC after arriving back in London.
“What we do is very calculating. It’s very calm, it’s quite the opposite ... But it’s really the international team I would like to focus on and the Thai SEALs.”
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said international members of the rescue team would be given a “Thailand Elite” card worth 500,000 baht ($15,000) with benefits including a five-year visa in thanks.