Thai Cave Rescue — The miracle with a recent tinge

The recent rescue at the Silkyara tunnel rescue reminded me of the rescue of a young football team in Thailand who was stuck in Tham Luang cave when water rushed in. It was in 2018, that 12 members of a local football team (aged between 11 to 16 years), and their 25-year-old captain who post their practice entered the cave to protect themselves from heavy rain.

Unfortunately, the rain sustained and the water rose and finally entered the cave. The team of 13 moved more and more inside, and finally could not come out even when the rain stopped.

The football World Cup was on, but still, the world was focused on another corner in Thailand where there was a war to save the lives of twelve kids and their coach.

Almost ten thousand people from around 20 countries worked hard for 18 days to save the thirteen. They were found in an underground cave, two kilometers from the entrance and 1 km below ground.

The odds were huge:
1. Much of the passage was flooded, so much so that even an experienced diver takes 8 hours to reach there and come back.
2. There were large segments that could only be crossed by underwater diving, and at places passages were so narrow that only one person could move in one direction.
3. The water is so muddy there was only a few meters of visibility.
4. None of the kids knew how to swim, so they had to be taught swimming and underwater diving. All that in a dark, closed space which is 2 km away from the entrance.
5. Navy seals had gone there, along with doctors, and nurses. They were all risking lives — one 34-year-old ex-Navy SEAL who was also a Triathlon champion died while underwater, and another died a year later from a latent blood infection. This gives the sense of how treacherous the area was, as well as the impact on other resources.
6. The area is a high monsoon area, and heavy rains are expected to start in July and will continue till November (the event was in June — July). This was against the initial estimate of 4 months for the rescue. But it happened in 18 days, that was a marvel.
8. The rescuers had many stories to keep them going (like the mine rescue in Chile), but this was unprecedented. Underwater cave rescues happened before, but almost always for professional divers, and the rescues had been a handful, not a large group.
9. The rescue brought in some of the best experts together, and almost all of them came their spend their funds. Cave divers John Volanthen and Rick Stanton were prominent among them, and they discovered the boys deep inside the cave.

10. Elon Musk also responded, sent a team, landed up, said they were ready to build a mini-submarine that would run on liquid oxygen, and ultimately was frustrated for suggestion not being taken seriously.

Five years have passed since the Thailand Cave rescue. The players and the coach of the Wild Boar football team have been celebrated across the world, they traveled widely, and feted, documentaries were made about them.

The rescuers were turned into heroes too. Specifically Saman Kunan, the ex-Navy Seal who came out of retirement to help, and died. He was promoted seven ranks posthumously, his funeral was attended by the Royal Family, awarded highest ranks, and a statue was built (with Saman Kunan being roared on by a bunch of wild boars).

But not everything is a fairy tale, especially in the long run. Early this year, Duangphet “Dom” Phromthep, who was the captain of the world boars, and who moved to United Kingdom on a football scholarship, took his life in his dorm.

Why? I guess no one knows for sure. But, for someone who got a second life against all odds, when he turned 13 while stuck inside the cave, it will always be a question — why?

Ekkaphon Kanthawong, the 25-year-old coach who drew on his monk training to keep the 11 to 16-year-olds upbeat, wrote on Facebook:

“Didn’t you ask me to cheer you once you’re in the national league? Why did you break the promise? Didn’t we make all the plans when you came back to play football and go cycling with us since you were young, you kept saying that you wanted to play in the national league. Why didn’t you do as you said?”

We will never know, but sure it will remain as a large tinge on an otherwise great story of human resilience, collaboration, and leadership. The very best.