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Wild Boars Football Team: Story of Grit & Heroism
In the end, as it turned out, it was a massive operation involving some 1500 rescue workers including 90 divers to save thirteen youngsters-twelve of them of 11 to 17years of age and the other an adult at 25, trapped inside a flooded cave for close to 18 days and brought out without any loss of life under extremely trying circumstances.
Thai government needs to be wholesomely commended for their ability to marshall the needed assistance from international community. A whole comity of nations came together for the rescue of these youngsters, from Australian military personnel to US Indo-Pacific Commandos, experts from China, Japan and Israel and of course the stellar role played by Thai Seals and UK divers. They managed to save all the 13 youth trapped inside the flooded cave.
It is a story of incredible efforts from all concerned. Like BBC described it “what happened over those two weeks is a remarkable story of friendship, human endurance and the lengths some people will go to save someone else’s child”. Thailand and the larger world was indeed very fortunate, at the end of it all, that all 13 were saved. As Derek Anderson, the 32 year old rescue specialist with the U.S Air Force based in Okinawa Japan puts it “The world just needs to know that what was accomplished was a once in a lifetime rescue that has never been done before”. No wonder Thailand Navy Seal had reportedly remarked in their website post “we are not sure if this is a miracle, a science or what!”.
On 23rd June, a group of 12 football players between 11 & 17 years of age and their 25 year old coach Ekapol Chanthawong, after a practice match, had entered the sprawling Tham Luang cave underneath a mountain in Mae Sai of Thailand’s Chaiang Rai province just to explore for fun and to celebrate the birthday of one of the boys. But the heavy rain that followed thereafter completely filled the tight passageway blocking their escape. Surging water filling inside the cave pushed them further inside in search of a place they can hang-on. Unwittingly they had walked into a life threatening trap. In matter of an hour or so, a joyous situation was turned completely upside down of huge uncertainties.
The labyrinthine Tham Luang cave, on the cusp where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos form a triangle, will be etched in the public memory for a very long time to come.
The adage, the truth is stranger than fiction was proved abundantly in this real life drama how an incredibly unimaginable story of complexity unfold before your helpless eyes with all the power in ones command. Yet, at the end, how man mastered himself and managed to come out winner, with a solitary sad hick up! It was indeed a story of gargantuan proportion of sheer pluck and audacity.
When first announced the terrible news of 12 boys and their coach are missing, and lost into a flooded cave, with all their cycles and bags left at the entrance to the cave, the wide world responded with extreme sadness. On learning the details of their probably having marooned inside a treacherous cave with surging waters due to continuous rain, hope was slowly pushed down to despair and hopelessness, without any clue of their whereabouts.
It was only on the 10th day, a pair of British divers could fortuitously locate them perched on an elevated space within the cave, huddled with anxiety followed by smile on their face. The news was immediately flashed to the waiting crowd at the mouth of the cave to let the world know that after all the boys and their coach are safe.
For 9 long days with no light with limited oxygen how these boys managed to stay calm and composed waiting for the miracle to happen! What came to their aid was not high tech modern gadgets and yuppie culture but the training their coach had as a Budhist monk. He made all the boys to meditate, so that their breathing could help manage their vitals. It helped them stay calm and use as little air as possible. He also made them lie still which enabled them to conserve their energy. Also they had carried enough food and drinks to celebrate the birthday of one of their team mates. Thus they managed to stay both physically and mentally alert with only hope and prayers for all those 9 days despite uncertainty hanging over their head. Certainly they displayed a strong will to survive.
Hence when they saw the torch light of the divers for the first time, it could have been as if the God had come to take them to safety. Surely the entire waiting crowd all over the world would have exclaimed “Oh my God!” with smile on their face.
Having achieved the first objective of finding all the 13 alive, the next had to be, how to get them out. Its here that man’s ingenuity, resourcefulness coupled with the hope and faith in the adage, God that saves is greater than the God that destroys, came handy. Fortunately boys knew English and hence could communicate with the God sent English divers. After days of starving they were clearly hungry and they asked for food naturally. The boys and their coach were quickly joined by a military medico and Navy Seal divers. In all 4 military personnel stayed put with boys. Doctors advised a special diet of medicated liquid food and mineral water with added vitamins.
Having found the boys, now it was easier to at least keep feeding them at interval while planning their strategy to bring all 13 out of the cave.
Of course, initially, divers had taken the rope along with them to put in place a kind of life saving rope guidelines which can help both entry and exit to and from the cave interior.
Water inside was cold and hypothermic which presented difficulties for the divers to navigate narrow passages with gushing flood water. Hence progress was slow. The rescue efforts involved guiding boys with little swimming skills through passageway filled with swirling water. A massive operation to pump water out also meant air pockets were created at crucial points of the cave, making rescue possible.
Divers practiced the rescue techniques in a swimming pool with local children about the same height and weight as the members of the Wild Boars trapped in the cave. ‘The aim was to make each boy ‘tightly packaged’ so divers could keep control of them and adjust their air supply as needed,’ said Derek Anderson, the rescue specialist from US Air Force contingent. The process lasted hours for each boy and involved them getting through long passageway barely bigger than an adult body.
Buoyancy compensators, hooded wetsuites, bungee cords and special face masks were carried by divers to the cramped patch of dry elevated ground where the boys were huddled. All these planning took some 4 days after the boys were found. The complicated operation to bring the boys out of the cave really started on Sunday, that is on the 16th day of their incarceration from the day light.
There were scores of people inside the cave, since handling each boy involved dozens of rescue workers, since it involved dangerous movement through 9 chambers they had to cross, informed Anderson. According to him, ‘in some phases they were guided by two divers. In some narrow passages they were connected to only one diver. In caverns with air pockets they were floated through with support of four rescuers. Some sections were completely dry but treacherously rocky and deep. We had to set up rope systems and high lines to be able to safely put them in a harness and bring them across large open areas so they wouldn’t have to go all the way down. Cylinders placed at location throughout the cave for replenishing the air supply to boys were jammed with 80% oxygen instead of regular air because that would plus up their oxygen saturation levels and that would be really good for them, their mental state’.
Thus the rescue team managed to bring to safety 4 on Sunday, 4 on Monday and the remaining 5 on Tuesday, to the total joy and sigh of relief to the waiting families of 12 boys and their coach, to the Thai authorities, who staked everything to save these marooned boys and of course the entire rescue team besides the wide world waiting with bated breath until the last person was out. All thirteen were hospitalised immediately after the rescue was over. They may have to remain there for some weeks to recuperate fully.
It was unparalleled by any stretch of imagination. Of course the sad part was one of the Thai Navy Seal, Saman Kunan, sadly passed away due to lack of oxygen as he was making his way back after placing oxygen canisters along the narrow passage. May his brave soul Rest In Everlasting Peace.
Details sourced from internet.
J. Shriyan
In the end, as it turned out, it was a massive operation involving some 1500 rescue workers including 90 divers to save thirteen youngsters-twelve of them of 11 to 17years of age and the other an adult at 25, trapped inside a flooded cave for close to 18 days and brought out without any loss of life under extremely trying circumstances.
Thai government needs to be wholesomely commended for their ability to marshall the needed assistance from international community. A whole comity of nations came together for the rescue of these youngsters, from Australian military personnel to US Indo-Pacific Commandos, experts from China, Japan and Israel and of course the stellar role played by Thai Seals and UK divers. They managed to save all the 13 youth trapped inside the flooded cave.
It is a story of incredible efforts from all concerned. Like BBC described it “what happened over those two weeks is a remarkable story of friendship, human endurance and the lengths some people will go to save someone else’s child”. Thailand and the larger world was indeed very fortunate, at the end of it all, that all 13 were saved. As Derek Anderson, the 32 year old rescue specialist with the U.S Air Force based in Okinawa Japan puts it “The world just needs to know that what was accomplished was a once in a lifetime rescue that has never been done before”. No wonder Thailand Navy Seal had reportedly remarked in their website post “we are not sure if this is a miracle, a science or what!”.
On 23rd June, a group of 12 football players between 11 & 17 years of age and their 25 year old coach Ekapol Chanthawong, after a practice match, had entered the sprawling Tham Luang cave underneath a mountain in Mae Sai of Thailand’s Chaiang Rai province just to explore for fun and to celebrate the birthday of one of the boys. But the heavy rain that followed thereafter completely filled the tight passageway blocking their escape. Surging water filling inside the cave pushed them further inside in search of a place they can hang-on. Unwittingly they had walked into a life threatening trap. In matter of an hour or so, a joyous situation was turned completely upside down of huge uncertainties.
The labyrinthine Tham Luang cave, on the cusp where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos form a triangle, will be etched in the public memory for a very long time to come.
The adage, the truth is stranger than fiction was proved abundantly in this real life drama how an incredibly unimaginable story of complexity unfold before your helpless eyes with all the power in ones command. Yet, at the end, how man mastered himself and managed to come out winner, with a solitary sad hick up! It was indeed a story of gargantuan proportion of sheer pluck and audacity.
When first announced the terrible news of 12 boys and their coach are missing, and lost into a flooded cave, with all their cycles and bags left at the entrance to the cave, the wide world responded with extreme sadness. On learning the details of their probably having marooned inside a treacherous cave with surging waters due to continuous rain, hope was slowly pushed down to despair and hopelessness, without any clue of their whereabouts.
It was only on the 10th day, a pair of British divers could fortuitously locate them perched on an elevated space within the cave, huddled with anxiety followed by smile on their face. The news was immediately flashed to the waiting crowd at the mouth of the cave to let the world know that after all the boys and their coach are safe.
For 9 long days with no light with limited oxygen how these boys managed to stay calm and composed waiting for the miracle to happen! What came to their aid was not high tech modern gadgets and yuppie culture but the training their coach had as a Budhist monk. He made all the boys to meditate, so that their breathing could help manage their vitals. It helped them stay calm and use as little air as possible. He also made them lie still which enabled them to conserve their energy. Also they had carried enough food and drinks to celebrate the birthday of one of their team mates. Thus they managed to stay both physically and mentally alert with only hope and prayers for all those 9 days despite uncertainty hanging over their head. Certainly they displayed a strong will to survive.
Hence when they saw the torch light of the divers for the first time, it could have been as if the God had come to take them to safety. Surely the entire waiting crowd all over the world would have exclaimed “Oh my God!” with smile on their face.
Having achieved the first objective of finding all the 13 alive, the next had to be, how to get them out. Its here that man’s ingenuity, resourcefulness coupled with the hope and faith in the adage, God that saves is greater than the God that destroys, came handy. Fortunately boys knew English and hence could communicate with the God sent English divers. After days of starving they were clearly hungry and they asked for food naturally. The boys and their coach were quickly joined by a military medico and Navy Seal divers. In all 4 military personnel stayed put with boys. Doctors advised a special diet of medicated liquid food and mineral water with added vitamins.
Having found the boys, now it was easier to at least keep feeding them at interval while planning their strategy to bring all 13 out of the cave.
Of course, initially, divers had taken the rope along with them to put in place a kind of life saving rope guidelines which can help both entry and exit to and from the cave interior.
Water inside was cold and hypothermic which presented difficulties for the divers to navigate narrow passages with gushing flood water. Hence progress was slow. The rescue efforts involved guiding boys with little swimming skills through passageway filled with swirling water. A massive operation to pump water out also meant air pockets were created at crucial points of the cave, making rescue possible.
Divers practiced the rescue techniques in a swimming pool with local children about the same height and weight as the members of the Wild Boars trapped in the cave. ‘The aim was to make each boy ‘tightly packaged’ so divers could keep control of them and adjust their air supply as needed,’ said Derek Anderson, the rescue specialist from US Air Force contingent. The process lasted hours for each boy and involved them getting through long passageway barely bigger than an adult body.
Buoyancy compensators, hooded wetsuites, bungee cords and special face masks were carried by divers to the cramped patch of dry elevated ground where the boys were huddled. All these planning took some 4 days after the boys were found. The complicated operation to bring the boys out of the cave really started on Sunday, that is on the 16th day of their incarceration from the day light.
There were scores of people inside the cave, since handling each boy involved dozens of rescue workers, since it involved dangerous movement through 9 chambers they had to cross, informed Anderson. According to him, ‘in some phases they were guided by two divers. In some narrow passages they were connected to only one diver. In caverns with air pockets they were floated through with support of four rescuers. Some sections were completely dry but treacherously rocky and deep. We had to set up rope systems and high lines to be able to safely put them in a harness and bring them across large open areas so they wouldn’t have to go all the way down. Cylinders placed at location throughout the cave for replenishing the air supply to boys were jammed with 80% oxygen instead of regular air because that would plus up their oxygen saturation levels and that would be really good for them, their mental state’.
Thus the rescue team managed to bring to safety 4 on Sunday, 4 on Monday and the remaining 5 on Tuesday, to the total joy and sigh of relief to the waiting families of 12 boys and their coach, to the Thai authorities, who staked everything to save these marooned boys and of course the entire rescue team besides the wide world waiting with bated breath until the last person was out. All thirteen were hospitalised immediately after the rescue was over. They may have to remain there for some weeks to recuperate fully.
It was unparalleled by any stretch of imagination. Of course the sad part was one of the Thai Navy Seal, Saman Kunan, sadly passed away due to lack of oxygen as he was making his way back after placing oxygen canisters along the narrow passage. May his brave soul Rest In Everlasting Peace.
Details sourced from internet.
J. Shriyan
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