Anniversary of boys’ Thailand cave search and rescue

MAE SAI, Thailand: When 12 young boys and their soccer coach walked into a cave complex in northern Thailand a year ago, they didn’t know their lives were going to change forever.

Rising floodwater quickly trapped the youngsters inside the Tham Luang cave complex, setting off a more than two-week ordeal that the world watched with rapt attention and that left the members of the Wild Boars soccer club with a survival tale that propelled them to celebrity status.

Nine of the boys and their coach were on hand yesterday in the northern town of Mae Sai to mark the anniversary, along with some 4 000 others, by taking part in a marathon and bike event to raise money to improve conditions at the cave.

“I want to thank everybody who has put in so much effort and sacrifice to save all of us,” said Ekapol Chantawong, the former coach of the Wild Boars, who led the boys on the ill-fated visit to the cave.

Ekapol stood in front of a bronze statue of Lieutenant-Commander Saman Gunan, erected to honour the Thai navy Seal who died while working on the search and rescue.

The boys spent nine nights lost in the cave, living on very little food and water, before they were found – spotted deep in the twisting cave complex, huddled on a patch of dirt above the rising water line.

It was a moment captured on video and soon broadcast to the world. It would be another eight days — until July 10 — before they were all safe.

Also on hand yesterday were a number of the local and foreign divers who took part in the rescue operation.

The operation required placing oxygen canisters along the path where the divers manoeuvred – dark, tight and twisting passageways, filled with muddy waters and strong currents.

“Not many children could have survived the way they did, so we have to respect them for that,” said Vernon Unsworth, a British diver who played a key part in the search for the boys and their eventual rescue.

“What we should do is let them get on with their lives. Let them grow up like normal kids,” he said.

A year later, the boys are notably older and taller. Wearing orange T-shirts from the event, they smiled and posed for photos. They have grown familiar with the attention they receive, though they are not altogether comfortable with it.

Abbot Prayutjetiyanukarn, a monk in the local neighbourhood who interacts with the team every week, told Associated Press that some of the boys were wary of the media and tried to avoid the press whenever they could.

“But they are fine, both physically and spiritually,” he said.

Three of the players, as well as Ekapol, were stateless and were granted Thai citizenship last August.

It wasn’t only the boys who were changed by the events of last year. This town, in mountainous Chiang Rai province, near the border with Myanmar, is now firmly on the tourist map, with curious travellers from all over the world flocking to see where the story of the Wild Boars unfolded.

The cave’s surrounding amenities, which just last year primarily featured dirt roads and thick mud, have seen renovations, with facilities built, roads paved and shops settling in.

Local souvenir shopkeepers said the attention improved their fortunes.

“Since the kids have been rescued, the economy around here keeps getting better,” said Lek Yodnum, a shop owner who sells T-shirts and memorabilia of the cave rescue.

The 12 boys and their coach were scheduled to attend a Buddhist meritmaking ceremony at Tham Luang today. | AP Additional reporting by Kaweewit Kaewjinda, Bangkok