Tham Luang cave rescue

Tham Luang cave rescue
Rescue personnel and equipment at the cave entrance
Date23 June – 10 July 2018
(18 days)
LocationTham Luang Nang Non, Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, Thailand[1]
Coordinates20°22′54″N 99°52′06″E / 20.38167°N 99.86833°E / 20.38167; 99.86833
TypeCave rescue
CauseMonsoon flooding[2]
OutcomeGroup found alive on 2 July; all rescued between 8 and 10 July 2018[3][4][5]
Deaths1 [a]
Non-fatal injuriesMinor scrapes and cuts, mild rashes,[6][7] lung inflammation[8]
Location within Thailand

In June and July 2018, a junior association football team was rescued from Tham Luang Nang Non, a cave system in Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand. Twelve members of the team, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old assistant coach entered the cave on 23 June after a practice session. Shortly after they entered, heavy rainfall began and partially flooded the cave system, blocking their way out and trapping them deep within.

Efforts to locate the group were hampered by rising water levels and strong currents, and the team were out of contact with the outside world for more than a week. The cave rescue effort expanded into a massive operation amid intense worldwide public interest and involved international rescue teams. On 2 July, after advancing through narrow passages and muddy waters, British divers John Volanthen and Rick Stanton found the group alive on an elevated rock about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the cave mouth.

Rescue organisers discussed various options for extracting the group, including whether to teach them basic underwater diving skills to enable their early rescue, to wait until a new entrance to the cave was found or drilled or to wait for the floodwaters to subside by the end of the monsoon season several months later. After days of pumping water from the cave system and a respite from the rainfall, the rescue teams worked quickly to extract the group from the cave before the next monsoon rain, which was expected to bring additional downpours on 11 July. Between 8 and 10 July, all 12 boys and their coach were rescued from the cave by an international team.[9]

The rescue effort involved as many as 10,000 people, including more than 100 divers, scores of rescue workers, representatives from about 100 governmental agencies, 900 police officers and 2,000 soldiers. Ten police helicopters, seven ambulances, more than 700 diving cylinders and the pumping of more than one billion litres of water from the caves were required.

Saman Kunan, a 37-year-old former Royal Thai Navy SEAL, died of asphyxiation during an attempted rescue on 6 July while returning to a staging base in the cave after delivering diving cylinders to the trapped group. The following year, in December 2019, rescue diver and Thai Navy SEAL Beirut Pakbara died of a blood infection contracted during the operation.[10][11][12]

  1. ^ Safi, Michael; Thoopkrajae, Veena (8 July 2018). "Thailand cave rescue begins as four of 12 boys freed in day of drama". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Former Thai Navy SEAL dies in rescue operation for soccer team trapped in cave". MassLive. 6 July 2018. Archived from the original on 8 July 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference TG-20180710-0806a was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Neumann, Scott; Chappell, Bill (10 July 2018). "All 12 Boys And Their Coach Are Rescued From Thai Cave, After 2 Weeks". NPR. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  5. ^ "Thai Cave Rescue: The Watery Trap Is Now Empty". The New York Times. 10 July 2018. Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  6. ^ "Thailand cave rescue: Boys appear in new video, 'I am healthy'". CNN. 4 July 2018. Archived from the original on 4 July 2018.
  7. ^ "Monsoon rains could damper rescue efforts to save soccer team in Thailand cave". ABC News. 5 July 2018. Archived from the original on 7 July 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  8. ^ McKirdy, Euan; Olarn, Kocha; Berlinger, Joshua. "Thai rescue: Hopes high 4 boys, coach will be freed from cave Tuesday". CNN. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  9. ^ Chris Peterman (22 July 2018). "Risky Thailand cave rescue relied on talent, luck – and on sticking to the rules". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 23 July 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  10. ^ "Thai cave rescuer dies from year-long blood infection". BBC World News. Archived from the original on 28 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  11. ^ Gregory, Andy (27 December 2019). "Navy seal dies from blood infection contracted while saving football team from Thailand cave". The Independent. Archived from the original on 20 January 2024. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  12. ^ Puranasamriddhi, Angie; Said-Moorhouse, Lauren (28 December 2019). "Thai Navy SEAL dies from infection he contracted during cave rescue". CNN. Archived from the original on 28 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.


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