Thai boys need support to accelerate their recovery

I write in reference to your moving editorial The boys rescued from the Thai cave should be given long-term care and support (July 11): the Thai cave survivors are children whose entire lives lie ahead of them. If books are written and films made about them, as reports have already suggested, a portion of the proceeds should go towards their education and rehabilitation. It transpires that three of the children and the coach are in fact stateless, without Thai citizenship. The Thai government should be generous and grant them citizenship.

Moreover the young coach should not face trial for having walked into the cave with the children. The coach himself is a youngster at 25, an orphan and a former Buddhist monk. He too has suffered enough and should be spared any further pain. He did not even eat his tiny food ration in the cave, instead giving it to the children to keep them strong. He also taught them meditation, which helped the children to survive a macabre ordeal.

You have rightly compared the Thai cave saga with the Chilean miners’ crisis in 2010. Some of the miners have complained that although they inspired a book and a film, they received meagre remuneration.

Manchester United football club has done well to invite the children to Old Trafford, because such visits can accelerate rehabilitation. Others should follow suit.

Rajendra Aneja, Dubai