Thai rescue hero’s parents furious over honours snub
THE parents of a diver who helped in the dramatic Thai cave rescue want to know why he has been snubbed for a bravery honour.
Commercial diver Tim Acton, 39, was among the heroic team of British experts who saved a boys’ football team trapped by floodwaters in Tham Luang cave last June.
But his name was absent from the New Year’s Honours list. Yesterday Mr Acton played down the snub, saying: ‘I would feel very honoured [to receive an award]. It would be lovely – but it is not why I helped out. Everyone there mucked in and got involved. I didn’t go there looking for recognition.’
The rescue saw diver Vernon Unsworth, who was a victim of a smear by tech mogul Elon Musk, receiving an MBE, as did Joshua Bratchley and Lance Corporal Connor Roe. Four others received gallantry awards for exceptional bravery.
Mr Acton’s mother Lynne, 67, said: ‘All the other British divers have been recognised, so why not Tim? I am hoping that it was just an administrative error. He was one of the last divers to come out of the cave because they had to bring up all the equipment and canisters.’ The Thai navy has also recommended that its government grant him a ‘well-deserved’ Elite Visa.
His father, John, 71, said: ‘If everybody else is going to be recognised, why leave one out?’ He said his son had ‘smashed his knee’ and needed major surgery. ‘Every doctor in the hospital came and shook his hand,’ he added.
Mr Acton, who is originally from Harwich, Essex, has lived in Thailand for 12 years where he runs a holiday complex in Bangkok and lives with his wife Tuk and daughter Millie. Within hours of being asked by a Thai Navy Seal (Sea Air and Land) unit to help rescue the 12 boys and their 25-year- old assistant coach, he flew to the cave in the north of the country.
Mr Acton carried the boys out on stretchers and stayed in the cave until the final four Thai divers emerged.
After the rescue, he told the Daily Mail: ‘The biggest fear was being able to get them all out. It was a race against time and the weather. We didn’t know when the storms might start and what might happen if they did.’
In 2004 after the Boxing Day tsunami, Mr Acton helped survivors in the village where he was running a diving school – for which he was commended by the British ambassador.
A spokesman for the Cabinet Office declined to comment.