BRITISH CAVE RESCUE TEAM

Outstanding Bravery

Divers who risked their lives to rescue 12 Thai boys and their football coach from a treacherous cave in Thailand

WHEN young members of a Thai football team were trapped deep underground in flooded caves, hope for their survival was fading.

The team – the Wild Boars – had gone exploring in the caves after football practice. When heavy rain caused sudden flooding, they retreated further into the 10km complex of tunnels. Search teams scoured the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Thailand without success. Soon, rising water made it too difficult to navigate.

Expert British cave divers John Volanthen, Jason Mallinson, Rick Stanton, Chris Jewell, Josh Bratchley and Connor Roe flew to Thailand to join the search. With many fearing the boys must be dead, two members of the British team made an astonishing discovery – the football team perched on a ledge in an air pocket.

With experts deeming a rescue impossible, on July 8, members of the British team started their painstaking mission. Over the next two days, they rescued the boys – one by one – through 4km of flooded tunnels as narrow as 30cm at some points.

Rick Volanthen, said simply: “Are we heroes? No, we were just using a very unique skill set, which we normally use for our own interests, to give something back to the community.”