Thai cave boys repay their rescuers with Buddhist pledge following close shave
ELEVEN of the Thai boys who were plucked from a flooded cave had their heads shaved yesterday as they prepared to be ordained as Buddhist novices in gratitude to their rescuers and to “repay” a Thai navy Seal who died during the dramatic operation.
Two weeks after their incredible escape, members of the Wild Boars football team, aged 11 to 16, wore unadorned white robes and underwent an initial ceremony at a temple in northern Thailand, before they moved into a monastery for nine days.
Only one of the rescued boys, 14-year-old Adul Sam-on, a Christian, will not participate. The families of the boys had pledged to ordain them to express gratitude for their safe return and repay the efforts of those who rescued them, as well as to repay their obligation to Saman Kunan, 38, the Thai navy Seal who died while trying to lay oxygen tanks along the boys’ exit route.
Sangiemjit Wongsukchan, the mother of Ekarat Wongsukchan, 14, said ordinations were supposed to “give us peace of mind”.
“We can only do this for nine days because then he [Ekarat] will have to go back to study and prepare for exams,” she told ABC News. “Back to his normal life.”
Ekapol Chanthawong, the team’s 25-year-old coach, has lived as a Buddhist novice for a decade and will be ordained as a monk. During the ceremony at the Wat Phra That Doi Wao, a scenic temple close to the boys’ homes, a saffron-robed monk gave thanks as team members pressed their palms together in prayer and lit candles.
Trays of fruit and sweet drinks were placed before statues of Buddha wrapped in gold cloth. “They should spend time in a monastery. It’s for their protection,” Seewad Sompiangjai, a grandfather of one of the boys, told the BBC. “It’s like they died but now have been reborn.”
During their stay at the monastery, the novice boys will meditate, pray and help to clean the temple.
The boys were discharged from hospital last week after their rescue from the flooded Tham Luang cave, where they spent more than two weeks in a dark cavern. A team of international divers, caving experts, Thai navy Seals, doctors and volunteers worked together to help rescue them after they were found by Rick Stanton and John Volanthen, two British cavers.
Theresa May, the Prime Minister, yesterday hosted a reception for the British divers who were involved in the complex rescue. Pisanu Suvanajata, the Thai ambassador, was among the guests at No 10.