Editor’s note: In June this year, when the World Cup was in full swing, an international news also made the world nervous: on June 23, 12 boys and a coach of a youth soccer team in Thailand entered the “Sleeping Beauty” cave in Chiang Rai province in northern Thailand after training, and then disappeared en masse. From July 2, rescuers searched for the trapped people in the cave, to July 10, the end of the rescue operation, a number of international rescue forces jointly staged the “18-day century rescue”, and finally let all 13 people successfully get out of the trap. This story is full of strange, mysterious, desperate and reversal. And in that abyssal cave, there are many unknown heroes. With just this true account, I salute all those who participated in the search and rescue efforts.
After several attempts, the British determined that the cave was too complex and completely beyond their capabilities. They firmly believed that breaking through into the cave in these conditions, “the task was impossible”.
Rick and John dropped the phrase: “This is madness!” at the entrance of the cave and then simply left.
The British are not exaggerating. The 10-kilometer-long “Sleeping Beauty” cave has many sunken, narrow passages that wind and twist.
Want to force a breakthrough into the cave, even in the premise of figuring out the correct path, but also to break through the turbid torrent of water coming in the opposite direction, through the dark and sharp rock walls between. The visibility of the current in the cave is now only 5 cm. The edges of the jagged stalactites in the water were so sharp that they could pierce through the gelcoat and cut their skin at any time. The bottom of the water is also littered with debris, wires, cables, pumps, pipes …… all kinds of unknown things.
Rick and John walk into the abyss Photo: Li ShuoRick and John walk into the abyss Photo: Li Shuo
Rick and John, the best cave divers in Europe, are also “legends” in the world of cave diving and rescue, and the gods of many diving enthusiasts.
It is an accepted fact that if these two British cave diving gods can’t get in, then no one else in the world can.
Rick and John left, not to go back to base camp, not to the hotel, but directly to the airport, ready to return to the UK.
Ben stayed where he was, not knowing what to do. He became the only diver on site with the ability to cave dive.
He saw the Thai Navy SEALs, all of whom were still young, walking from time to time between camps. Several pipes stretched out from the cave entrance and were constantly draining water out. After days of rainfall, the road was already muddy. Shoes stepped in and had to lift a breath to pull them out.
The plants on the mountain are getting more and more lush after being washed by the rain, and the earthy yellow color exposed on the ground is particularly eye-catching. Thailand’s rainy season has arrived, the rain is getting heavier and the water inside the cave is getting deeper and deeper, as if to block the possibility of finally entering the cave.
“It’s suicide to go into the cave in this condition!” Ben said to his wife over the phone.
It is. It was suicide.
But he had to go into the hole, he didn’t have any choice.
Going to the abyss
June 23 was the 17th birthday of Night, a teenager on the Wild Hogs’ soccer team. He thought it would be a special day, but never expected it to be so special.
In order to celebrate Night’s birthday, 12 soccer boys gathered 700 baht, bought a lot of food and prepared to go on a field trip to “Sleeping Beauty Mountain” in the National Park in the town of Mercer. This is not the first time they have gone on a bike trip, but the youngest and oldest soccer players, who are 11 and just 17, have all been on long rides along the Thai-Myanmar border.
In mid to late June, the sun is blazing, the rainy season is approaching, the air pressure is dropping and the summer heat is overwhelming. At this time, the “Sleeping Beauty Mountain” has become a summer resort for the soccer boys.
On this day, Nopparat, the 37-year-old head coach of the soccer team, happened to go to a game, and Ekapol, the 25-year-old assistant coach, was responsible for temporarily looking after a dozen boys. The soccer team of 13 came to the soccer field at the foot of Sleeping Beauty Mountain to train.
After practice, Ekapol rode his motorcycle and the boys got on their bicycles and ran through roads, mountains, forests and creeks all the way to the “Sleeping Beauty Cave” near the soccer field. The “wild boars” are no strangers to this cool and soothing cave, as they have been here four times this year. This is the fourth longest cave in Thailand. The interior of the 10,316-meter-long cave is full of ravines and twists and turns.
In the local legend of Mae Sai, the “Sleeping Beauty Mountain” is the incarnation of an ancient princess who was opposed by her family for falling in love with a commoner and died for love. Looking across Sleeping Beauty Mountain, it resembles the silhouette of a woman lying on her side so closely that explorers often venture there, and occasionally they are trapped in the cave. Checking unfounded legends and the bizarre experiences of adventurers do not stop people’s curiosity, but rather add to the mystery of the cave and attract locals to it.
“This is our cave, the cave of Merset, and we need to explore it.” says Kanet, the principal of the Plassey School of Art in the town of Merset. Exploring the cave is a sacred thing in the area – the soccer boys have spent six hours inside on four exploration excursions, the farthest they’ve traveled being roughly 3 kilometers.
On this day, the soccer boys arrived at the entrance to the cave, where Ekapol parked his motorcycle and the boys parked their bikes and locked them up by the cave’s railing. Some of them took off their shoes and put them outside the cave.
The soccer boys’ bikes are still parked at the entrance of the cave Photo: AAPThe soccer boys’ bikes are still parked at the entrance of the cave Photo: AAP
Ekapol planned to spend an hour exploring the hole, and Night wanted to be home by 5 p.m. He didn’t want to miss the birthday dinner his parents were planning for him. They brought only food, water and a searchlight. The “Wild Hogs” started exploring the cave with minimal equipment.
Before entering the cave, Ekapol explained the precautions to be taken. As in the dry season, the entrance of the cave was fully exposed. But from the entrance, there is only darkness in the abyss. Turning on the searchlight, the coach will lead the teenagers to explore. If something comes to mind on the way, the kids will stop and draw randomly on the cave wall. The cave was dry, the route was clearly visible, and it was very easy to enter the cave.
By the time they got deeper into the cave, it was a different world outside the cave. The rainy season was approaching, and the water level in the Thai jungle was soaring that the passages in the cave were constantly being swallowed up by the rain.
By the time the children returned, the dry tunnel had been blocked by heavy rain, and the original clearly visible route became blurred under the effect of fear and doubt. They were sure they had not gone in the wrong direction – the only exit had been blocked. They were trapped.
The parents, realizing that none of their children had returned home, sent messages to head coach Nopparat asking for information, and Nopparat did not reply in time. The parents were panicked. When Nopparat returned from the game at night, he turned on his phone and 20 unread messages poured in. His 13-year-old nephew, who hadn’t ridden his bike on the field trip that day, told Nopparat, “They went to Sleeping Beauty Cave.
The persistent rainstorm foreshadowed the official arrival of the rainy season in the Thai jungle. Nopparat rushed to the entrance of the cave and found only one motorcycle and 11 bicycles parked in front of the cave.
He knew these bikes well and kept shouting Ekapol’s name towards the dark entrance of the cave, then the boys’ names, still no response. He had forgotten to bring a flashlight when he set out from home in his haste. Towards midnight, everything around him merged with the abyss inside the cave, dark and full of despair. “I was chilled to the bone at that moment.” Nopparat recalls.
That’s when a light came through the cave. It wasn’t his children, but a group of park employees.
The park staff said they had seen the bikes at the entrance before they went into the hole to check it out. Heavy rains had caused the water level to rise and back up into the cave, blocking cave passages and making the cave path so muddy that they had to exit again after entering the cave.
Nopparat realized that the matter was far beyond his ability, and he had to tell the team members’ families the bad news.
By this time, the torrential rain had turned into a torrent and the water level increased instead of receding, forcing back all those who tried to walk into the cave. On June 25, the first Thai Navy SEALs arrived and realized that the cave search did not seem as easy as they thought.
The young SEALs had no experience in cave diving, and if they were in open water, the SEALs could still quickly force a rescue operation. But the “Sleeping Beauty Cave” is a maze with many forks, and each narrow passage may lead to a dead end.
The water level in the cave was rising, and when they encountered the narrow passages, the commandos were tied up and unable to use any military skills. Courage alone is not enough. Each step forward is an unknown depth, and with it the risk of death by suffocation. The Thai Navy SEAL commander finally realized that in the face of the current bad weather and rapids, all attempts were just a futile exercise.
If they couldn’t get in, they simply pumped the water out. The brutal “pumping plan” began immediately. More and more pumps were shipped from all over the country. People found that the pumping was not very effective, the water level in the cave did not change much, and when the rainfall continued, the water discharged also destroyed tens of thousands of square meters of farmland in Chiang Rai. The “water pumping plan” was also declared a failure.
The news of the trapped soccer boys spread through the media and more and more Thais were informed. Volunteers gathered near the mouth of the cave to set up pots and pans to serve food to the rescue team and the families who were praying and waiting. The humid air was mixed with the aroma of meat and spices.
Vernon Unsworth, a 63-year-old British adventure enthusiast, is one of the few people who knows about cave diving. He said this year’s flooding was three to four weeks earlier than last year. It’s just that these kids were unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Upon learning the news, he wrote a letter to the local governor listing what he considered to be the three best British cave divers in the world, hoping that the Thai side would contact them through the British Embassy as soon as possible – all three divers are top dive experts of the British Cave Diving Association and legends in the global cave diving community: Robert Haper, Rick Stanton, and John Volanthen.
The Thai government approved Vernon’s proposal and sent a request to the British Cave Diving Association for international assistance. However, the rain continued to pour and the water level continued to rise. The “Wild Boars” soccer team in the cave had no food. Every minute spent means one more minute of danger.
No one knew for sure what would happen next.
Suicide mission
Belgian diver Ben Reymenants (hereinafter Ben) is a diving instructor who runs a diving school in Phuket, Thailand. He was on vacation in the Philippines for his wife’s birthday when he saw the news of the soccer team being trapped.
In fact, Ben had already gotten word of the soccer team being trapped a few days earlier, and then saw the news that several top British divers had been called in to assist with the rescue, and realized that things were more serious than he thought.
On the evening of June 27, Ben received a phone call from his friend Ruengrit, who had a good relationship with the Thai Navy and knew very well the cave diving experience of the Thai Navy SEALs – almost zero. Ben agreed without hesitation. The emergency dive kit is always packed and ready to go, and with a simple pack, Ben flew to Thailand with 85 kg of diving equipment.
Among the 85 kilograms of luggage Ben carried, in addition to the regular rubber suit, two sets of scuba, and a set of professional-grade CCR (closed-circuit respirator), a necessary underwater respirator for professional divers, although the cost is often tens of thousands of dollars, but efficient and lightweight.
“Why me?” While some media outlets have dismissed Ben as the top-ranked local cave diver in Thailand, Ben himself doesn’t see it that way. “It’s likely that I have more experience and dive deeper than all the cave dive instructors, but does that make me the best? Not necessarily, but I may be the craziest one?”
At this point, the rescue had made initial progress. In the Royal Thai Navy’s efforts to try, has been in the cave from a place called “Pattaya Beach” 800 meters away, set up a good radio communication and lights. But in the continued rainfall, the water level suddenly rose rapidly at a rate of 30 centimeters per hour, the Thai Navy had to retreat to Camp 3, about 1.5 kilometers from here.
Hand-drawn map of the cave at the rescue site Photo: Tan Xiaolong Hand-drawn map of the cave at the rescue site Photo: Tan Xiaolong
Camp 3 – “Chamber Three” in the mouth of many international rescue teams, in the following 10 days, became a watershed for rescue – ordinary rescuers had to take great risks to reach the end of Camp 3, while here, it was the starting point for international cave diving experts to carry out rescue.
At 3pm on June 28th, Ben and Ruengrit arrived at “Sleeping Beauty Cave” to check the danger at the entrance. They ran into Rick and John, the British cave diving experts, who had just come out of the cave. “It’s crazy in here!” The two exclaimed that the rapids were too strong, visibility was too poor and they looked very tired.
Rick and John arrived the day before and had already begun their rescue attempt. Although the two were at the pinnacle of human cave diving skills as it were, they could barely make it into Camp 3. They encountered strong currents. Suspended sediment reduced the visibility of the current, and diving in it was “like driving through fog with your headlights on.”
It is an accepted fact among all rescuers that if these two cave diving gods can’t do it, then no one else in the world can.
On June 29th, Ben and the Thai Navy began attempting a cave dive rescue. Both sides agreed. The Thai Navy was responsible for transportation and Ben was responsible for diving deeper into the cave from Camp 3.
The Thai Navy Seals carried the ropes and a large number of gas tanks to Camp 3, with Ben following behind the Seals. In some of the muddy sections, they had to climb up with heavy diving equipment on their backs, and Ben quipped, “It felt like climbing Mount Everest”.
When Ben and his team finally reached Camp 3, the current visibility was only 5 cm, making it almost impossible to read the instruments, and Ben’s CCR gear, although lighter, could be just as deadly if the visibility underwater was too low to read the instruments. From Camp 3, the Thai sealers stood by in place while Ben put on his rebreather and began his cave dive.
Ben wiring 150 meters with a rope spool Photo: Ben ReymenantsBen wiring 150 meters with a rope spool Photo: Ben Reymenants
Ben pulled the rope spool he had brought with him and dived all the way into the narrow cave, laying out roughly 150 meters of the route: “I got stuck many times in many narrow and closed places, and got caught in the swirling rapids. I started to return. On the way back, which was somewhere past the narrows of Camp 2, I bumped into Rick and John, who were heading into the cave, while I was heading out.”
Ben told the two British experts that the visibility was so poor and the current so strong that “it felt like the rapids were pulling me out.” Rick and John agreed that the situation was too dangerous, and the men turned around and headed out of the cave to brief the Thai SEAL commander-in-chief on the danger in the cave.
Ben’s first trip into the cave ended in failure. However, the British gods, who represent the top international cave diving technology, decided after several attempts that the situation inside the cave was too complicated and beyond their capabilities, and went straight back to the airport to prepare for their return.
Sleeping Beauty – sounds like a gentle and quiet name, but the situation inside the cave is so complex that many of the top international diving technology experts have been defeated.
“Sleeping Beauty Cave” is a group of karst caves located under the Sleeping Beauty mountain range on the border between Thailand and Myanmar. The French cave exploration team first investigated the main caves of “Sleeping Beauty” in 1986 and 1987. And in 2014 and 2015, British caver Vernon, and Robert, the first person on his list of recommended dive experts, explored Sleeping Beauty again. On that occasion, cave diving member and British diver Martin Ellis made a preliminary drawing of “Sleeping Beauty”.
The 10-kilometer-long cave has many sunken, narrow passages that wind and twist. Although in the dry season, people can easily hike into the cave. However, during the rainy season, the cave is full of hazards.
During the rainy season, the entrance to Sleeping Beauty’s cave is flooded and torrents spill out. Signs are posted at the entrance advising against entering the cave during the rainy season (July to November). Cave divers who want to break through into the cave will have to break through the muddy torrent of water coming in the opposite direction, even if they know the right way, and walk through the dark, sharp and steep rock walls. The edges of the jagged stalactites are so sharp that they can pierce through the gelcoat and cut their skin at any time. Entering the cave can become extremely difficult.
Talking about the cave, John described it as a dark abyss flooded by water, with very little underwater visibility. When the earliest attempts to enter the cave were made, there was a lot of debris underwater, wires, cables, pumps, pipes …… all sorts of things.
Ben was baffled by the departure of the British. Although the British had previously stated that the rescue in this situation was very dangerous and could even be a more serious rescue accident. The rescue should be canceled, the mission is impossible. Moreover, they “don’t even know if the children are alive”.
But what Ben doesn’t understand is why, after the failed attempt, the British experts are not stationed in place to study the next rescue response. I’ve seen the documentary “Diving into the Unknown” (Diving into the Unknown), in which Rick and John did not leave immediately when they encountered difficulties! Why this time but directly flew away?” Ben was very puzzled.
As far as Ben could remember, the British expert hardly spoke to him. He once asked the British to borrow a rope, but was “rudely” refused, “You can’t borrow a rope from us, you can only buy it.”
Someone sent a photo to Ben’s friend of the British preparing to board the plane at the airport, and it seemed that the British were sure to fly away.
At this point, exploring the cave alone without the assistance of British cave diving experts would have been suicide, and Ben remembers the first time he saw the pounding flood inside the cave – “it was like a Colorado river, out of reach.”
Ben and the Thai naval commander re-emphasized the danger of the cave, which was too dangerous.
The SEAL commander-in-chief understood the situation and thanked Ben for his efforts and his fearless courage.
Ben, however, saw that the Thai SEALs were still making preparations for the cave dive. He asked the commander-in-chief, “What are you doing here?
The Commander-in-Chief said, “I’m still ready to try. If we just give up on the 12 kids and don’t make any effort, the Royal Thai Navy SEALs, will never be able to face the Thai people.
Ben was a little moved. He looked at the young SEALs, most of whom were 19 or 20 years old and had little cave diving experience. ben was 45 years old, with no children on his knees, and could be their father, while he had plenty of cave diving experience.
Ben made a phone call to his wife, “This is suicide!”
It is. It was suicide. But he had to get in the hole.
Before Ben’s wonderful vacation to the Philippines was interrupted, he was celebrating his wife’s birthday. The wife knew her husband’s level of cave diving, and she knew that in the cave, anything could happen, but her own husband was more likely to save the children.
On June 30, Ben walked into the abyss for the second time.
This time, he was the only one.
The Chinese team came
The action of the Chinese rescue team began with a WeChat group.
From the beginning of the event, the WeChat group of the China Cave Rescue Union began to receive integrated information from Qianzhi and Tian Mingyi one after another. Whether it was news about the latest rescue progress in Thailand or the world’s most professional cave research history, Qianzhi would keep translating, collecting and integrating after seeing it.
Qian Zhi was one of the first Chinese people to learn about the “Wild Boars” soccer team trapped in China. He is the secretary-general of the Guizhou Cave Association in China, and has maintained close relations with the Asian Cave Diving Federation throughout the year.
Qian Zhi said, as early as June 23rd at around 10 pm, the president of the Thai Cave Association first sent him an email. The content was roughly that the children were trapped and the water was huge. The next afternoon, the president of the Thai cave association went to the scene to check the situation.
Just when the soccer boys were trapped in the cave, Professor Tian Mingyi from South China Agricultural University was on an expedition with his French colleagues in Shuanghe Cave. The French colleague opened an expedition report on his laptop and said he had been to the cave, which was very complicated, and some sections of the cave were prone to water. The “little pigs” are very dangerous, and it is not easy to rescue them. Professor Tian then sent the rescue map of his French colleagues to the WeChat group of the Chinese Cave Commission.
Zhou Yahui of Beijing Pinglan Charity Foundation, one of the Chinese rescue team members, said that at first no information channels were found in China, and they read the translated articles that were constantly transferred to the group to understand the latest rescue progress. Later, Chinese rescue volunteers who participated in the search and rescue mostly learned a lot of information from here.
Another member of Pinglan, Li Shuo, is also in this WeChat group. Li Shuo has been closely following the reports of the Thai rescue since June 24th. In the early morning of the 27th, Wang Yingjie, the secretary general of Pinglan Charity Foundation, told Li Shuo to be prepared for a possible rescue trip to Thailand.
According to Li Shuo’s understanding at that time, the British cave diving experts were already in the middle of the search and rescue, and there were nearly a thousand people at the scene. Than their own great masters are there, go there in the sense of big or small? Even his wife asked, “Can you make it? He suspected that this time will be the same as in the past, the action temporarily canceled for various reasons.
He did not think much about it, but prepared the rope equipment, and took the possible use of diving gel coat, flippers, goggles and other diving equipment, in case of wading rescue.
On June 28, Pinglan to Thailand rescue WeChat discussion group was established, the person in charge of Wang Ke urgently recruit members. The first batch of members should be familiar with each other and have experience in mountain rescue cooperation. The rescue involved cave diving, and Wang Ke invited his coach Tan Xiaolong, who taught him to dive 10 years ago.
At 9 p.m., Tan Xiaolong received a call. Wang Ke said the incident was in northern Thailand, and the rain in the cave had risen, blocking the way the children had come. Tan Xiaolong has not been to the cave, there is no relevant information, but with experience can predict that the chances of survival of the children are higher, the possibility of successful search and rescue is greater.
At 9:50 a.m. on June 29, the first four members of the Foundation, Wang Yingjie, Zhou Yahui, Li Shuo and Tan Xiaolong, boarded flight MU2569 from Beijing to Chiang Mai and arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand at 3:00 p.m. The other two Hunan team members, Gong Hui and Tan Zhang, also quickly rushed to the area to provide support. Late in the rescue, on July 6th, Zhang Guangrui and Wang Ke joined the rescue operation in Ping Lan again.
Driving from Chiang Mai to the rescue site, the road conditions were not good. It was late afternoon when the car drove into the forest. The road was not finished, plus the continuous precipitation during the rainy season, constantly washing away the mountain. In some places, bare land and mountains could still be seen.
Wei Qilei, the volunteer in charge of translation, looked at the dark mountain forest and said to the other two Thai volunteers, “Are we going to stay in tents on the mountain later, if so, the three of us will take turns to sleep and one of us will have to keep an eye on it.
The car drove about 3 hours, until 10 o’clock at night, only to arrive at the “Sleeping Beauty Cave” cave next to the temporary rescue command site near. Everyone did not expect that the command is brightly lit.
At this time, another group of Chinese rescue teams have also set out.
Beijing Green Boat rescue team captain Wang Lin at first did not think it was too big, many caves in the karst terrain in Guizhou have also happened lost. But this time it was 13 people, plus Thailand for days of rainfall, until I heard that the international rescue team moved in, there is still no progress, which is not good. “The 23rd all the way to the 28th, I did not think it would take so long.” Green Boat rescue team tossed and turned to the Thai side of the foundation, applied to join the rescue immediately.
Days of rainfall, the base camp is covered with mud Photo: Ben Reymenants Days of rainfall, the base camp is covered with mud Photo: Ben Reymenants
Green Boat and Ping Lan, although two sets of people, but early on are members of the domestic private charity rescue team, are familiar with each other. Meng Zhigang of the Green Boat rescue team specializes in cave exploration, having explored the deepest known cave in the Beijing area.
On the night of the 28th, the Green Boat rescue team decided to send the first echelon to Thailand to rescue. Wang Lin, Meng Zhigang, Wang Xudong, Du Lianyang and other five members of the team rushed to Chiang Mai by plane at 21:30 on June 29.
Green Boat arrived at the camp and had a short meeting with several volunteers from Ping Lan, but the two Chinese rescue teams soon turned to different rescue directions. Green Boat was in charge of “mountain rescue” and Pinglan was in charge of “cave rescue”.
The Chinese rescue team is not alone. On June 28, pilots from the U.S. Army’s 353rd Special Operations Group and 31st Rescue Squadron flew into Thailand just after the Thai international rescue was sent out.
Global rescue forces are injected into the remote and unfamiliar jungle of Thailand.
British “Captain”
It was the most dangerous dive of Ben’s life.
At the age of 9, Ben watched the James Bond movie “Top Secret” and was hooked on the mysterious waters, and by the time he was 23 he had qualified as an expeditionary level “Trimix” diver.
When he was working for a dive company in Egypt, the young Ben was falsely accused by a customer and left his job in anger and started diving all over the world. Bali, the Great Barrier Reef, Fiji, Sri Lanka, the Canary Islands …… He exiled himself in one dive destination after another, exploring the underwater world of bliss, and also mastering Danish, French, Spanish, German and other languages in the process.
After diving for over 20 years, the average technical diver tends to sit at a desk and take up an administrative position, only going into the water twice a year, even if he occasionally gets the urge to do so. Ben, on the other hand, now dives 300 days a year.
In a diving accident, Ben fainted at a depth of 100 meters underwater due to compressed air depletion. Fortunately, his teammates found him in time, and Ben was rescued in time to recover a life. This was the closest he had ever been to death.
Since then, Ben has not only pursued the pleasure brought to him by this mysterious sea, but also got the identity of cave diving rescue, saving people around the world as a volunteer. In the past 10 years, Ben has been involved in more than 300 rescue cases.
On this “suicide” mission, Ben understood that it was almost like saving lives, otherwise he would never have gone this far. The narrowest passage in the cave was only shoulder-width wide, so he had to crawl forward, take off his equipment, push it through, and keep pushing through the passage.
The most difficult part of the entire cave search from Camp 3 was through the T fork in the cave, which was a narrow part of the cave with a sharp turn. What was even harder was finding the exact path through the fork, “there are a lot of dead ends here, a large maze”. Thanks to a map drawn by a French explorer 30 years ago, Ben was able to pinpoint the exact location.
A few days later, Ben almost never returned here at the T fork. Ben and Maksym Polejaka entered the cave together, Ben took the wrong path at the T fork, he thought he was “here to stay, never to get out again”, fortunately Maksym pulled him back 50 meters, he was able to get out of the cave.
At a low point, Ben found a corridor passage. “Started wiring at an angle of 245 degrees, and this route was oriented in the same direction as indicated on the map.” Ben said he laid another 200 meters of route rope inward to find the correct passage connecting the main tunnel to Pattaya Beach.
Ben got out when the rope ran out. When he returned to Camp 3, the Thai Navy was thrilled – Ben had broken through a difficult point that British technical diving experts had failed to get through all by themselves. it took Ben nearly two more hours to get out of the hole from Camp 3. He had just returned to his tent not far from the cave entrance when he met the British who had just returned from the airport – the Thai Navy had already passed on Ben’s breakthrough quickly to base camp. When the British technical diving experts learned that the difficult spot had been overcome, they immediately canceled their flight and took a cab back.
Ben and partner go into the hole for wiring Photo: Ben ReymenantsBen and partner go into the hole for wiring Photo: Ben Reymenants
The Thai Navy SEAL commander-in-chief hopes that Ben will be able to work together with a strong team of British experts. “This cave is very long and there are only five of us combined with the ability to explore the cave, we have to work together,” Ben said. Ben said.
“Well, we can work together, but you can’t go in with us! We’ll go when you dive, you have to go when we dive!” the British experts said. The British experts said. ben found it a bit unbelievable and said to several British experts: do you want to dominate? It doesn’t matter, I don’t care who dominates.
The Thai side also started to join the operation, rotating to lay the line. While one team was sleeping, the other continued and the wiring work began to move forward quickly. The cooperative rescue sped up the process of laying and setting the wires. But the eight-hour-long dive was still very tiring.
Chinese rescue team member Tan Xiaolong said, in the cave diving, the arrangement of ropes is very important. In the “Sleeping Beauty” underwater difficult to identify the direction, only closed eyes to move forward, even the southeast and northwest is difficult to identify clearly. Divers do not have a lot of time to waste, they can not endlessly find the exit, especially in the search phase. The risks were very high.
He said that the earliest wired people could be called unsung heroes.
The only hope
On June 29, Tan Xiaolong, Zhou Yahui, Li Shuo and others arrived at the improvised Thai command center, it was already night. There was still one kilometer from the command center, so they could only get off and walk there. The road was full of mud and could slip and fall at any time.
The Pinglan team had a rough time interfacing with the local governor. That night, they did not get an official letter from the embassy. Without official documents, they had to report to the volunteer team and could not be assigned to the mission.
On June 30, they took the official letter from the embassy and directly found their Thai Navy counterpart to report to. Tan Xiaolong was at the camp trying to find the Thai side to ask for a map. A Thai officer sat motionless in the humble camp, and he looked at the interpreter and Tan Xiaolong and said that there was no map.
After a cold reception, Tan asked his wife to send pictures of his diving instructor certification. He wanted to join the rescue as soon as possible and had to produce evidence that would prove he could participate in the rescue.
They were soon assigned to the cave rescue. The Thai Navy sent someone to lead the team member, Zhou Yahui, into the cave to understand the situation. After entering the cave, walking through Camp 1, to the place where he had to dive, Zhou Yahui felt that “the situation was very complicated”.
“The cave is very large, about 100 meters in to start wading, the water submerged knees, the deepest can reach the thigh. Walk to the far end of the high ground is to dive the point, dive point near the pump is constantly pumping out water, visibility is low,” said Zhou Yahui. They needed to dive against the current, and it was difficult not knowing what the dive distance was. The surroundings were noisy, breathing was not smooth, and the depth of the water was not known. He realized that he “hadn’t done this before”. Had to stay in place for the time being.
Narrow passages, sometimes you have to take off your equipment to get through Photo: Ben Reymenants Narrow passages, sometimes you have to take off your equipment to get through Photo: Ben Reymenants
There were no international divers from other countries at the camp that day, only Ben and some Thai divers were there. At first, Li Shuo thought this was the legendary British technical dive god, but when asked, he realized it was a Belgian.
Tan told Ben that he was a diving instructor.
Ben is very shy, speaks not loudly, see the Chinese man in front of the diving instructor qualification certificate picture, very surprised, said the rescue team is lack of people like him, now only 5 of them in the forward raid.
Ben said that he had a friend who came alone and could consider giving Tan Xiaolong a temporary dive buddy in case of emergency when people arrived.
Ben enthusiastically shared with them the situation in the cave: how far the cave could go, how far to dive, how deep it was, what dangers were in which places, what places were particularly narrow, and what places had particularly strong currents.
Ben also said that he went early, when the strongest current in the cave can not turn back. If you’re not careful, the helmet will fly and the face glass may fly. His equipment is a front-mounted closed-circuit breathing apparatus, a lighter and smaller CCR, even so, through the narrowest part of the cave, wearing equipment still can not pass. You have to take off your gear when you dive, tuck it through, people squeeze through again, and put it back on. It’s that hard.
Zhou Yahui vaguely felt that the Belgian in front of him did a lot of work, and the most isolated time, still insisted on exploring forward. Since then Ben has become the “that buddy” in Zhou Yahui’s mouth.
The day before, the temporary rescue command center was very chaotic, the next day has become a reasonable partition, vehicles in order. A logistical camp was set up at the entrance to the cave, with clearly defined areas of the site: a restricted area for Thai Navy SEALs, an area for other military and civilian rescuers, a rest area for relatives, and an area for the media and the public.
Another rescue force from China, the Green Boat Rescue Team, set a mountain-based search direction before they set out. Before setting out, they got a coordinate point of a suspected branch cave entrance. It is possible that the children are trapped in this branch cave entrance. Finding this coordinate point was the biggest goal of their trip.
On June 30, the Green Boat rescue team conveyed their request to the Thai side, hoping to search here on July 1. The Thai side agreed and sent Thai personnel and local volunteers to follow.
After importing the coordinates and viewing them on Google Maps, the Green Boat team members began to assess where to enter from and what the approximate distance was. After the assessment, it was already late at night. Pack up the equipment and prepare to leave in the morning. Ideally, the Green Boat rescue team would find the coordinates and enter the cave and find the stranded soccer team.
If the cave rescue team is never able to breach the main tunnel of Sleeping Beauty Cave, this seems to be the only hope of finding the children.
“Someone is banging”
At 4:30 p.m. on June 30, Green Boat Rescue arrived at the command center to report. After members of the Peace Mission Rescue team met and briefly exchanged rescue information with each other, Green Boat went to the camp where Mountain Rescue was staying.
The mountain rescue camp is actually a temple, but the facilities are complete, supplying food and drink, and can go to the toilet and take a cold shower. They pitched a tent to live in the open space of the two solemn temples, directly opposite the tent on the table with a solemn golden statue of Buddha.
Green Boat Rescue Team member Du Lianyang believes in Buddhism, he kneels every day and eats a vegetarian diet. After the nearby residents knew, they thought the entire Green Boat rescue team was vegetarian and kept sending vegetarian food to the Green Boat team members. A few days later, even the cave rescue team members of Pinglan also received “special care”, the Chinese rescue team members can not refuse the enthusiasm of the locals, very helpless, can only tell them: “not every Chinese people are vegetarian, we need meat, need energy ah!”
July 1. Green Boat and a dozen people jumped into several black pickup trucks and ran to the coordinates. Far from the coordinates, the pickups could no longer travel and everyone had to get out and walk. The road is very difficult to walk, the front of the Thai military to open the road with a mountain knife, everyone’s weight is more than 20 kg, coupled with the gradual increase in rain, the mountain is full of mud, especially slippery. Walk one step, two steps back.
Mountain search and rescue need to use a mountain cutter to open the road Photo: Wang Lin Mountain search and rescue need to use a mountain cutter to open the road Photo: Wang Lin
Green Boat’s original plan was to lock the cave, Meng Zhigang first, Wang Xudong second, and if further support was needed, Wang Lin then went down.
What discouraged everyone was that after all the difficulties to reach the entrance of the branch cave where the coordinates were located, it was found that someone had already arrived early. At that time, the same search in the mountain, there are also The Japanese team and the Russian team. The earliest arrival of the Thai side pulled up a cordon, the later arrival of several rescue teams were blocked out.
What was even more discouraging was that it was confirmed that the branch cave entrance was of little use.
The situation, however, changed more quickly than expected. At 8:30 p.m., the Green Boat rescue team received emergency search instructions and a new situation emerged. The command center received word that someone had heard the sound of pounding rocks in another cave.
Green Boat’s captain, Wang Lin, was very excited, unable to inform the volunteer translator Fan Wenhao, Green Boat rescue team within 10 minutes, quickly set off.
The road was more difficult than yesterday’s, but the Green Boat rescue team members were excited. In the dark of the night, through low pineapple fields, climbing small cliffs and steep slopes, not caring about the injuries on their bodies, all the way to the destination. The team members did not know how many times they fell down as they grabbed the vines and kept on climbing.
After crossing a depression, the Thai guide in the lead suddenly started walking with his hands held high and instructed the team to keep their voices down, “There are bad people here. The team members who were following behind were very strange. Later, they turned on the GPS and found out that it was only 300 meters from the Thai-Myanmar border. Focused on rescue, but forgot that this is the most famous “Golden Triangle”, they walked at night is the dangerous Thai-Myanmar border line.
After another hour of searching, the source of the knocking sound was still not found. The members of the Green Boat team felt that the coordinates were wrong and hurriedly tried to contact the command center, which replied that the location of the point assigned to you was wrong and might be offset by more than ten kilometers.
The Green Boat team members had to give up the search and return to camp. It was already 3:00 am on July 2.
Only later did Mike Clayton, a member of the British technical diving team, explain that the “knocking sound” had been misheard by the Thai Navy SEALs, and that it was actually just the echo of water ripples, not the child’s cry for help.
The Green Boat rescue team went back to camp and fell asleep, sleeping for a few hours before setting off again.
Follow the mountain search strategy planned by the Thai side. At first, the rescue forces of the U.S. Army, China and several other countries concentrated on the mountain, the main junction where the child was missing was clear, and they wanted to find other branch cave entrances that connected to the exit.
Finding the branch cave entrances became the main goal of the international search teams. Photo: Wang Lin The search for the branch cave entrance became the main goal of the international search team. Photo: Wang Lin
The cave was complicated, but the search team still hoped to find the branch cave entrance from the top of the mountain that would actually connect to the main passage. Except for the drilling team, everyone on the mountain was looking for the cave.
On July 2, Green Boat’s team found a 60-meter-deep shaft, which was not large and not cool. After doing the rope protection, team member Meng Zhigang took the lead to go down the hole, and there was indeed a branch hole inside. After walking through it, it was found to be a dead hole.
The “mountain rescue plan” again declared failure. After one blow after another, the green boat crew who had found nothing began to retreat. They were ready to go back to the headquarters to discuss the next day’s search plan.
It started to rain again, and they wondered how Ping Lan, who was in charge of the cave rescue, was progressing, and whether the rescue of the buddies was as rocky.
International Rescue Team
June 30, the seventh day of the disappearance of the “wild boar”.
The U.S. military led the development of a transport rescue plan. The plan was for an international rescue team, mainly from Thailand, the United States, Australia and China, to transport a steady stream of gas cylinders and supplies to the cave, with the intention of establishing a cylinder supply storage area at Camp 3 to supply cylinders for several divers, mainly from the British Cave Diving Association.
The transport program finally began in the afternoon of July 1. The Pinglan crew received instructions to quickly put on their equipment and prepare to enter the cave for action. Between the entrance of the cave and Camp 3, it was stipulated that each person was responsible for a section of the transfer range, hand to hand. As a result, the original plan was deviated at the beginning.
The original plan of 2 hours a rotation, just in 20 minutes, Zhou Yahui saw Li Shuo also into the cave, asked: how did you come, not two hours to rotate? Li Shuo said: people said, the U.S. Army think there are not enough people, send us all in, this is a temporary change, think the speed is a little slow, everyone came up.
Thailand, the United States, Australia, China formed the international rescue team, consuming a lot of human resources, the purpose is only one, do their best to protect the physical fitness of the international team of technical diving experts, do their best to provide them with all the equipment and materials.
A steady stream of gas cylinders being transported to the rescue site Photo: Ben Reymenants
From Camp 3 onwards, only teams of technical diving experts were allowed to dive in. Although the International Rescue Federation brings together the rescue forces of various countries, they are not very proficient in cave diving operations. According to Zhou Yahui, the Australian side entered the cave without preparing a suitable helmet, and an Australian special police officer just entered the cave and hit his head directly.
Pinglan’s team member Li Shuo was even more confused. He just entered the cave not long ago, has not begun to adapt to the complex environment of the cave, the U.S. commander like in the Hollywood blockbuster shouting “Go! The less experienced diving team member Gong Hui, for safety reasons, simply gave up entering the hole.
Zhou Yahui was stuffed to an air cylinder, dived down, closed his eyes, touching the rope forward. The water is not the only rope. The sharp corners of the rocks may cut through the skin, and there are places where you have to walk sideways, while keeping the air cylinder stable. When he encountered a wire, he also found a way around it.
After diving some distance, he slowly rose and his head was exposed to the murky water. Face to face is a U.S. soldier’s face: Are you OK?
Zhou Yahui passed and waited in place for his teammate Tan Zhang behind him. He stared at the surface of the water, saw a beam of headlights from the water, getting brighter and brighter, thought Tan Zhang immediately to the surface when the light is gone again.
No? He hurriedly dived back to find out what happened. Out to see, Tan Zhang is comparing with the U.S. Army, it turns out that Tan Zhang did not bring a counterweight block, too buoyant, can not sink.
Thai Navy SEALs carrying gas cylinders in the dark Photo: Ben ReymenantsThai Navy SEALs carrying gas cylinders in the dark Photo: Ben Reymenants
Before they left, they consulted one of Thailand’s best technical diving experts on whether they needed to bring counterweight blocks. The clear answer was “no”. Tan Zhang was convinced. But Zhou Yahui suggested that he carry it on his back, just in case. Tan Zhang did not listen, with so heavy why? Back in and back out, the original complex road conditions plus the counterweight block will only consume more physical energy.
As a result, Tan Zhang was really stuck. Zhou Yahui said, in fact, sink, people can barely come, but floating in the water, the equipment may be stuck in the wire or stone, which is very dangerous. A classic cause of death for divers is to get stuck.
After being stuck, Tan Zhang did not panic and calmly retreated. The U.S. Army did not have a ready-made counterweight block, and could only find a larger and heavier volume of two large lead sandbags hanging on the body, only barely passed the first section of the dive.
The interior of the cave is not as flat as an air raid shelter. In large karst caves, there are peaks, canyons, holes, fissures and other complex landforms. Coupled with the rapids with extremely low visibility, it was already dangerous even before reaching Camp 3.
After the portage operation, Li Shuo was preparing to dive out of the cave. The sealed equipment bucket tied to one side floated up because there was air. Although people dived down, the rope was stuck in the stalactite seam and could not be moved. Li Shuo force to break free, but found that the face mirror also into the water. I do not know whether it is lucky or unfortunate, the rapids in the cave itself is very turbid, even if the mirror into the water, the impact on the sight distance is not much – anyway, it is the same can not see.
Li Shuo can not pull the stuck equipment cans, one hand grasping the guide rope also dare not loose. He struggled in the water for a while. Followed by Zhou Yahui saw this situation, immediately Li Shuo’s equipment bucket was held down, the crisis was lifted.
A day down, each member of the team were bumped many times, covered with injuries, the soles of the feet were blistered with water wrinkled and white.
On the day of July 1, Thailand, the United States, Australia and China composed of the international rescue team transported 190 gas cylinders, and on the 2nd, more than 100 cylinders were transported. “Transported to later, professional gas cylinders are completely inadequate, we found that many compressed air cylinders many are used by fishermen, Thailand collected from the country’s old bottles.” Zhou Yahui said.
Gas cylinder transport in place, everything is ready, the following began the international technical diving experts on the field. The children’s life and death is still uncertain, all that is at stake here.
“Hooyah”
The “mountain rescue” operation failed and the success of the international technical divers was unknown.
The rain continued to fall. Nine days have passed since the “Wild Boars” soccer team disappeared. In the past week, the rescue has been going on, but the original high confidence of the rescue teams of various countries, soaked in the continuous rainfall, was broken by the constant disappointment.
After the first risk assessment, the Thai Navy SEAL commander had to admit to the public, “Our hope of finding the boys is slim.” Several members of the team involved in the front-line rescue were unanimous afterwards that it was the darkest moment, when the rescue operation plunged into the abyss.
Only the children’s parents stayed up all night, dying at the entrance to the cave. When people are at their most vulnerable, they often use religion as a last straw. In Thailand, where Buddhism is practiced, burning incense and worshipping Buddha seems to be the only thing people can do.
The Thai government brought in a sorceress to perform a spell. The sorceress told the parents to take the Buddha statue of the hydra to the entrance of the cave to ask for forgiveness from the gods, and that the children would be found in less than a week.
A Thai woman living in the U.S. posted on Facebook that she dreamed of a princess telling her to “stop wasting time searching for these 13 people and never let them go without seeing the high priest Kruba Boonmee.” On June 29, the Burmese monk made a special trip to Thailand and went deep into the cave to perform a puja for the missing children.
After the monk’s practice, it did not rain for 3 consecutive days. The rain slowly stopped, the water level began to drop, visibility in the cave improved, and the current was not as strong. Everything seemed to be getting better.
Australian team members in the cave Photo: Xiaolong TanAustralian team members in the cave Photo: Xiaolong Tan
On July 2nd, Rick, John, Ben and 2 Thai SEAL medical officers formed an assault team and started pushing from Camp 3. From Camp 3 to “Pattaya Beach” was 2.5 kilometers long, they had to find the road rope Ben had laid out and then break through to “Pattaya Beach”, where the children were most likely to be found.
Everything went according to plan. At a distance of 200 meters from “Pattaya Beach”, the British told Ben and the Thai medical officer to stay put while Rick and John continued their assault.
After “Pattaya Beach” and continuing to dive, John surfaced again and finally found those eyes that had not seen the sun for over 200 hours.
The teenagers and their coach, Ekapol, were still alive, sitting compactly on the slope.
“How many of you are there?” John asked.
“Thirteen people.”
“Great!” John assured them that more people would come to their rescue tomorrow.
Ben was waiting not far from Pattaya beach and found it so incredible to know that the kids were found.
Twelve soccer boys, six of whom hadn’t eaten any food. Ekapol taught the kids to meditate to keep them calm. The children also tried to find an exit, taking turns digging into the cave walls and using flashlights “sparingly”.
The entire camp was abuzz with the news that the soccer team had been found and survived.
A video of John talking to the kids was posted on the Internet and quickly spread. The Thai Navy SEALs also excitedly announced on Facebook in Thai, “12 wild boars and coach out of the cave. Everyone is safe.” Finally, not forgetting to add the inspiring U.S. Navy slogan: “Hooyah!”
Foreign netizens who could not read Thai did not understand the main content of this message, but could read the last English word, Hooyah, the unique battle slogan of the U.S. Navy, which was still inspiring at this time.
Wei Qilei, a translator for the Pinglan Community Foundation, was watching the World Cup at the time, and Brazil had just scored a goal. A Thai colleague living next door suddenly knocked on the door and urged him to watch the news on TV, which was titled “Found”. Wei Qilei immediately took a picture and sent it to his circle of friends. Soon, he received a notice from Pinglan captain Wang Yingjie: immediately drive to the command center, hurry to find the driver.
Li Shuo and Zhou Yahui received the news, just came out of the hole back to the hotel. The two looked at each other, half-heartedly: “Really?” Captain Wang Yingjie said hurry downstairs, let’s go to the scene. Only Tan Xiaolong did not feel very surprised, but did not expect to be two days earlier than envisaged. He just finished washing clothes, half of the circle of friends sent, and heard the news of finding.
Several people at the intersection waiting for the car to come, only to see the news car, rescue vehicles, like crazy to the direction of the command.
The special driver had fallen asleep, only a small pickup truck drove over, they jumped right in, urging the driver to set off. Hundreds of volunteers and military personnel blocked the mountain road to the cave and raced to the camp.
Everyone in the command center was cheering and celebrating. The place was lit up and almost everyone was smiling, celebrating, hugging, taking pictures and telling their friends and families the good news. Some people hadn’t had time to blow dry their hair and arrived at the command center with their hair still wet. Outside the command center, hundreds of media reporters with their cameras were stopped outside the lines.
The Thai commander-in-chief was happier than usual. He sat around the first row with British cave diving experts and made the official announcement sitting at the modest command table, unable to stop the corners of his mouth from rising as he spoke. The crowd cheered.
The night the child was found, the British technical dive specialist shared the rescue situation at the time Photo: Tan XiaolongThe night the child was found, the British technical dive specialist shared the rescue situation at the time Photo: Tan Xiaolong
Ben was not in the first row with the British cave divers. Tan saw him sitting quietly in the back corner. In Ben’s mind, the SEAL commander-in-chief was a serious man. The soldier, who had never smiled, later came over and hugged him tightly.
Not everyone was this excited. Rick and John, who first found the soccer team, had mixed emotions. “They were relieved when they found the kids, but they didn’t really relax inside.” Mike, who is also on the professional technical diving team in the UK, said.
That night, when everyone was partying and celebrating wildly, the team of technical diving experts who had just dived back to Camp 3 from Camp 9, where the trapped people were, knew very well that the people were found, but to bring them all out alive, this was basically impossible.
Re-entry into the abyss
After finding the children, the British kicked Ben out of the technical dive team on the spot.
When John dived back to “Pattaya Beach” to rendezvous with Ben and the Thai medic who were standing by, Ben suggested that the children should be rescued from the cave immediately: “We have enough oxygen full face masks, why not just rescue them?”
John shouted at him, “Ben, shut up and go away!”
Ben was angry, but even sadder, he did not want to fight with the British experts in this situation, so he simply left the cave, left Thailand and went back to the Philippines to continue his vacation.
Before leaving, Ben left all the rescue equipment he had brought with him to the Thai Navy Seals.
On July 3, the Wild Boars soccer team was trapped for the tenth day. The nature of the “Thai cave rescue” changed from “search and rescue” to “rescue”.
The world’s top rescue experts offered their opinions and rescue teams came up with their own solutions. Meanwhile, the children in the cave were treated by Thai doctors in a timely manner. A large amount of food was also delivered in order to improve their health.
Why not just let the children dive out of the cave?
The diving distance from the location of the stranded to Camp 3 is 1500 meters, which consumes almost 5 hours even for divers to enter and exit. Professional divers can still feel their way through the rapids with very low visibility, but none of these children can swim and dive.
The layout of Sleeping Beauty CaveThe layout of Sleeping Beauty Cave
Ben later also felt that it was too difficult to get the children to swim out and that they would be extremely panicky when the visibility was too low. Especially when it rains, the current is too strong, and the child is too weak to stand up after being trapped for many days, some with atrophied muscles.
Some cave rescue experts believe that the most conservative option is to wait for the flood waters to subside. But Thailand’s rainy season usually lasts until October, and a rescue would take months to drag out. Food supplies can still be guaranteed, but the growing number of rescue teams inside the cave will consume more oxygen. In fact, people are already feeling short of breath near the cave entrance.
Rescue experts advised that the oxygen concentration measured inside the cave at the time was 17% and that it was possible to wait a little longer. Once the oxygen concentration inside the cave fell below 13.5 percent – equivalent to the oxygen content of 4,000 to 5,000 meters above sea level – the soccer team would find it extremely difficult to breathe – and immediate action had to be taken, otherwise the children were in great danger.
Elon Musk, CEO of Boring and SpaceX, tweeted that they were building an “escape pod” and had sent engineers to assist in the effort. But no rescuers saw their engineers at the scene, and many people thought it was just a gimmick.
U.S. Army Special Forces and Australian police could not help but mock: “To save the world Musk is here!” British experts were more direct in their expression: “They’re just trying to get more media exposure!”
There are also less vocal rescue options.
Drilling a well above the cave, directly into the cave, so the boys could climb out through a new passage. The Thai government sent vehicles and manpower to argue for a suitable cave entrance location.
Large amounts of water were pumped until the cave was drained until the boys could walk out on their own. But the amount of water and precipitation inside the cave far exceeded the efficiency of pumping, despite this, several large pumping machines were operating around the clock, just to improve the success rate of a little rescue.
The Chinese Green Boat rescue team, which is responsible for mountain search and rescue, was not reassigned to the task and evacuated back to China first. The Pinglan Foundation rescue team, which focuses on cave rescue, also adjusted its mission.
They transported supplies and gas cylinders a few days ago and are now standing by at the camp. Later they volunteered to go into the cave to repair the road, moved some stones to pad the ground, took a shovel to level the road, and adjusted the zip line system. the hill near camp 3 was difficult to pass, so they put a paving rope on the top along the hill, so rescuers could grab it and walk to ensure safety.
Inside the cave gullies Picture: Zhou Yahui Inside the cave gullies Picture: Zhou Yahui
With the children still inside the cave, the rescue plan was in limbo. That’s when Saman Kunan’s death dragged the rescue operation into the abyss.
Saman, 38, a former member of the Thai Navy SEAL unit, lost consciousness on July 5 at 8:37 p.m. after delivering three oxygen tanks from Camp 3 to Camp 9. On the return trip, Saman lost consciousness between Camp 3 and Camp 4, the hardest part of the trail. His dive partner immediately attempted CPR but was unable to revive him and had to take him back to Camp 4. Saman died at 1:00 a.m. on July 6.
The Thai SEAL commander-in-chief quickly adjusted the oxygen supply strategy in the cave, and in addition to the oxygen tanks used by the divers themselves, they tried to exhaust oxygen into the cave through the exhaust pipe and no longer use human to carry oxygen tanks.
Saman’s sacrifice made the atmosphere of the original dull camp rescue even more dull.
Sacrificial Saman Sacrificial Saman
As early as the night the child was found, the Thai side had already started to discuss the rescue plan. The cave diving rescuers raised the hope that the international joint team could advance to Camp 7, or at least to Camp 6. The Thai commander asked Tan Xiaolong, “What can you get into? Camp 9, he said, if you approve.
By that time, Tan was already ramping up drills with U.S. troops. He wanted to get to the rescue, and his expertise could make up for the lack of U.S. troops.
The rehearsal was ready when the news of Saman’s death came, and all operations of the rescue teams from various countries were terminated. The Thai military ordered that no U.S., Australian or Chinese international team should cross Camp 3.
On the morning of the 6th, Tan arrived at the camp and everyone was waiting. Zhang Mengna, the interpreter, told him that this was an order from a higher command. His heart was heavy. If Saman hadn’t died, maybe the U.S. troops would have already started the raid operation. I thought I would finally have a chance to do something to relieve the stress of the cave divers and reduce the risk to the children, but it all stopped there.
A tall U.S. airman was deployed away, and he came over to say goodbye to Tan with a hug. He said he was leaving soon, there was a mission he needed to leave right away, and was sorry he couldn’t continue this together again.
The two of them found someone to take a photo together. In the photo, the American soldier and him on the shoulders, Tan Xiaolong full of sour face, almost on the verge of tears.
They both wanted to save lives, but this might be his last chance to burst forward.
The bad news kept coming. A vehicle from the Galaxin Province rescue team accidentally slid down a cliff of more than 20 meters, and their main task was to go up the mountain to find the ventilation hole at the top of the cave, looking for the way because they were not familiar with the mountain road, resulting in one serious injury and four minor injuries.
Meteorologists predict that there will be heavy rainfall within the next two days and that the water level in the cave will be uncontrollable. The health condition of the boy and the coach was also not optimistic. The rescue had to be executed quickly.
“Fast” meant greater risk. The U.S. mission commander told the Thai governor that he expected only a “60 or 70 percent chance” of getting the boys out alive, “maybe three or four, maybe five will die.”
Return of the prodigal son
Rick and John, who first found the Wild Boars soccer team, are core members of The British Cave Rescue Council, and have both participated in several notable international rescue missions.
Rick is a former British firefighter and was named “Midlands” Firefighter of the Year in 2011. “A firefighter by profession and a diver by trade, Rick has over 30 years of diving experience and is recognized as one of the best cave divers in Europe.
Ben is also impressed by the classic cave rescue documentary “Diving into the Unknown”, in which Rick and John attempt to recover the remains of victims in the deep waters of Norway under extremely dangerous conditions.
Rick once said that when people landed on the moon, they could still rely on maps. But in those unknown caves, no one knows where the path will lead, no one knows what will happen around the next corner.
In 2010, he took 50 hours to dive 8.8 kilometers, setting a new record for the longest human cave dive. In the same year, Rick and John went to France to rescue another famous cave diving expert, Eric Establie, which was an extremely tragic rescue operation. Rick and John’s heroic performance in this operation was awarded the British “Royal Society” medal, which represents the highest glory of human courage.
In Rick and John’s cave diving rescue career, the most famous case is the 2004 Mexican cave rescue.
In 2004, six British soldiers were trapped by flooding in a cave near Chacuilan, Mexico. Of the six British soldiers, two had no diving experience and one was afraid of water. In the end, Rick and John still brought the six soldiers out.
Perhaps this rescue experience in 2004 inspired them: why not let the children wear oxygen masks, led by experienced divers, and escort them along the way, guiding them all the way through the cave and back out?
The plan seemed perfect, but the biggest uncertainty was precisely the soccer boys. Trapped under the abyss for more than 10 days, let these nearly exhausted physical energy of the children, in the extremely low visibility of the rapids diving, they will feel fear? In extreme cases, fear triggered by the helpless behavior can be catastrophic.
The only way is to keep the children relatively “quiet” first. Mike, who was on the British team, said Rick and John suggested that for the rescue to work, they needed to enlist a “physician who knew both diving and anesthesia.
“Diving anesthesia physician”, a time to become the key to the entire rescue operation.
Ben brings help when the prodigal son returns Photo: Ben ReymenaThe prodigal son returns and Ben brings help Photo: Ben Reymena
Back in the Philippines, Ben continued his sweet holiday with his wife, trying to forget about the soccer boys in the Thai caves, but keeping a watchful eye on the progress of the rescue.
“I couldn’t sleep at night or eat well those days, and I tried to convince myself to let go of my pride (and return to the rescue), but it was a constant internal struggle.” Ben said.
He finally received a request from a friend brought by the Thai Navy to assist in the rescue. The Thai side could not leave the child in the cave for three months before implementing the rescue, it was too long.
On July 4, Ben showed up at the Thai airport. Just off the plane, he was recognized by people – is this not the Belgian who first went deep into the cave? The Thais on the sidelines said, “It’s good to finally see you back again.
The local police started escorting along the road from the airport, straight to the rescue site. When they arrived at the base camp, the commander-in-chief of the Thai Navy SEALs, and many people at the rescue site saluted Ben – because this time Ben came back from the Philippines and called two helpers, one of them, his old friend, the “diving anesthesiologist” who came from Australia “Richard Harris, who has more than 30 years of diving experience.
The “diving anesthesiologist” came, but Ben could not enter the hole again. The British expert team believed that Ben had little experience in cave diving, and the Thai army followed the advice of the British. There was even a rumor in the foreign media that the Thai Navy had set up a sign at the entrance of the cave, with a sign in Thai forbidding the Belgian to enter the cave again. But these were later proved to be rumors, and the sign in Thai meant just the opposite: thanks to the Belgian Ben for making a breakthrough in the cave diving rescue.
While outside the cave, Ben’s cell phone rang every five minutes. He didn’t dare to turn it off, not knowing which one was the important call.
At one point, Ben received an incoming call, “Hello, we’re calling from Elon Musk’s office.”
“Okay, I’m still Obama.” Ben was a little impatient.
The person on the other end said sharply, “We’re really from Elon Musk, we’re calling from the SpaceX office! If you don’t believe me, check your email.”
Ben checked the email and it looked like …… was really from the SpaceX office? He immediately called back and apologized.
The person on the other end said, “We have five engineers right now, and we desperately need to get on the phone with the people who are on site, and a lot of them aren’t answering our calls.” They said that a canister was made that could carry people, but the specific data had to be accurate to the centimeter, and they needed to know what the narrowest width in the cave was before they could make specific adjustments.
During the call, Ben learned that the original rescue operation of Silicon Valley maniac Musk’s team had arrived in Chiang Rai to start preparing for the experiment long before it was exposed by the media, only they chose to keep a low profile.
The call lasted 50 minutes. They listened carefully to Ben, consulted many questions and worked out several plans. ben felt that maybe they really wanted to help, but unfortunately, no one on the scene believed them.
Also outside the cave, rescue was imminent and the rainy season was upon us. The Thai side was slow to make a decision, and rescuers began to pressure the Thai side.
A young boy dressed in blue, carrying a shoulder bag and wide shorts with flip-flops on his feet, arrived at the camp. Others told Tan Xiaolong, “He’s in charge of the water.” In the entire camp, only this boy had free access to the Thai government’s command camp.
The boy, named Thanet, owns a Thai restaurant in Illinois, USA, and is also a water expert. He was responsible for monitoring and maintaining the water level in the cave – pumping water out of the cave and directing the exploration team to prevent the drained water from flowing back into the cave again through the sewers. This was one of the reasons why the water level was effectively controlled during the subsequent rescue.
Both the U.S. and Australian chiefs came forward to explain to the boy the progress of the rescue so far. In the afternoon, Thanet, the “water management” boy, used his computer to communicate directly with the Thai government cabinet. In the evening, representatives of the Thai royal family arrived at the command camp.
A decision-making meeting between the U.S., British experts, Australian doctors, Thanet and the Thai royal family was held in the tent. The rescue experts took mineral water bottles to simulate gas cylinders and demonstrated the scenario like a sandbox.
U.S. military officials told Thai officials that if the rescue was not launched after the window, everyone would die. British cave diving experts said that if they did not decide on a rescue plan, they would have no need to stay and were ready to go.
Richard, the anesthesiologist who came here with Ben, said, “This is the only one,” Richard repeated a few times, ignoring the others’ discussion, and added, “I have not rested well for a few days, I have to go to bed. After saying that, Richard turned around and left.
The royal family eventually agreed. The “Buddy” dive rescue program was allowed.
Inside the cave. The pumping machine has been pumping water, and some sections that required diving to get through in the early days have been swimmable in. By the day of the rescue, the team was able to walk into the cave on foot.
The “Wild Boars” soccer team told the team they were ready to go.
Out of the abyss
July 8, rescue day.
Thirteen international divers, one anesthesiologist, and five Thai Navy divers conducted the first rescue operation. A large number of international rescue teams, including the Chinese rescue team, were stationed outside Camp 3 to assist in the rescue.
Before entering the cave, the parties held a final program deployment meeting. The Chinese side is responsible for transporting the children and coaches from Camp 3 to Camp 2, through Camp 2, and then hand them directly to the Thai medical personnel, the Thai medical personnel again to check, to confirm vital signs, the Thai side to transport the children until the cave exit.
Program deployment meeting, the U.S. commanding officer said, China has five people involved in the rescue.
After that, the U.S. commander came down to Tan Xiaolong and said, you come with us to Camp 3. Then Tan Xiaolong and several other Americans were put in a group.
After the rescue teams from all sides entered the cave and arrived at the designated location, they immediately began to do rehearsal rehearsals. The auxiliary drill was a female American soldier, about the same height and weight as a child. Tan Xiaolong and the U.S. Army in a group, responsible for holding the lights, and provide security in terms of diving corresponding to the exit.
Zhou Yahui, Li Shuo, Zhang Guangrui, Tan Zhang, Gong Hui, in accordance with the transmission system has been built, from the Australian side to pick up the female soldier, and then passed to the Thai army, to confirm that the rope and transport stretcher carrying capacity are no problem.
U.S. female soldiers simulate child rescue rehearsal Photo: Zhou Yahui U.S. female soldiers simulate child rescue rehearsal Photo: Zhou Yahui
Volunteer Wang Zhitian also went into the cave to assist with translation. He said that before the child arrives, someone in front will pass the information about the child’s general location to Camp 3, so that the rescue team can prepare in advance. It takes about 10 minutes from the time of preparation to the time of arrival at the transport point that Ping Lan is responsible for.
This section of the road is a small hillside with a narrow passage in the middle that only allows one person to pass, with many protruding rocks on both sides. The team has to pull the child up from that passage, and then pass it to the next link of rescue workers, and continue to escort to the outside of the cave.
When the first child was delivered, the person on the stretcher was wearing a Navy black diving suit, wearing is a full face mask and equipment for adults, very quiet, not talking, drowsy state. Zhou Yahui was frightened, is it the Navy accident?
The second, the third, are in this state. Zhou Yahui thought, bad bad, the operation failed, this is too heavy.
He saw the doctor unpack the stretcher, check and measure blood pressure, and replace the air cylinder. Specially a Thai man sang, you wake up, you are almost home. Full face mask uncovered, Zhou Yahui then realized that the original lying inside was not a Navy rescuer. It was the child, and it was alive.
Children were transported one by one. At the beginning, the notice waiting for rescue of children “up to 6”, later became “up to 4”. Until the news said, “There are no more children that day”, the Pinglan team members were very excited and followed the stretcher up.
Zhou Yahui finally had the opportunity to observe the child he had been thinking about – yes, he was alive, and his eyes were still slightly open.
In order to prevent the child from using the gas cylinder midway out of gas, every rescue point to change the gas cylinder. Even if Zhou Yahui pressed the full face mask, the cylinder has been running out of gas in large quantities, consuming quickly. Finally he took a look at the cylinder, the degree shows that almost out of gas, and quickly take the water scrubbing, wipe immediately after the replacement.
All the “little pigs” were passed through the hands of the team until the rescue team saw them being transported out of the cave smoothly. When the first children were sent out of the cave, the children were still asleep in their masks and were taken directly to the ambulance after leaving the cave.
On the second day of the rescue, the children were wearing full face masks as well, but the sound of the respirator in the masks could already be heard. The third day coach Ekapol is the first to be sent out, rescued soon after being transported on the helicopter, transported to the hospital.
When the children were rescued, the Thai army drove everyone away, and the size of the site was greatly reduced, and the media was prohibited from entering. There were only a few scattered people at the entrance to the cave. Some heard cheers from the distant media area, and others noticed the low sobs of the families. ben also stood guard outside the cave.
Like the people waiting, Ben smiled as he looked at the children and heroes coming out of the cave one by one, paying the highest tribute to them. The crowd was jubilant, but no one noticed Ben again.
The child was quiet when he was delivered Photo: Zhou YahuiThe child was quiet when he was delivered Photo: Zhou Yahui
Yet the crisis wasn’t completely lifted. After seeing the children delivered out of the cave, the last U.S. military team stationed at Camp 3 and members of the Thai Navy SEALs were in danger.
The cave diving experts returned to Camp 3, where they took a group photo in the middle of the passage. Tan Xiaolong, who was guarding the entrance position of Camp 3, was eager to join the group photo, but the four Thai Navy SEALs had not yet arrived.
At this time, the water pump inside the cave suddenly burst and the water pumped out quickly poured back into the cave. Tan quickly inserted the scale on the light into the water and immediately shined another light on the scale, and the water level in the cave rose a little.
He stared at the rope underwater, no half-movement. A long time later, Tan Xiaolong felt the signal on the rope. He touched the rope and realized that the SEALs’ grip on the rope had no rhythm and the level was far less than that of the diving experts.
By the time the SEALs appeared, the water level had risen to a position where people were almost submerged. Several SEALs surfaced in turn, the first, the second, the third …… the third paused, Tan Xiaolong heart thumped, and waited a while before the fourth emerged. Waiting to drag all four out of the water, Tan Xiaolong saw that they were not wearing diving equipment suitable for cave diving.
Before the water level continued to surge, Tan pulled on four SEALs and several people rushed out of the cave.
The crisis in the cave was not over yet.
The last Thai coordinator to exit the cave assisted the Chinese team in removing the zip line system. When passing through a deep water area where the rope had to be pulled, the rope suddenly broke and the Thai coordinator immediately sank into the water, Zhang Guangrui grabbed him and the Thai coordinator was able to get out of danger. After disembarking, the Thai coordinator shouted in Chinese in a panic, “I can’t swim!” If the Thai coordinator was wearing a full set of rescue equipment, the whole person was most likely to be pressed into the water by the equipment.
The Chinese rescue team was the last group to come out of the cave. The rescue road rope but did not remove, so left in the cave to commemorate this meaningful century rescue. They walked toward the outside of the cave. “We were in the cave for 11 hours this day.” Zhou Yahui thought, “It’s been a long day.”
The light outside the cave became more and more dazzling, and even a little uncomfortable feeling. At the entrance of the cave, the commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Navy greeted us, and rescue teams from various countries applauded and cheered. Only the last group of teams came out safely, marking the successful end of the entire rescue operation.
July 10th. 18 days after the cave rescue, they finally came out of this abyss.
Postscript – Heroic life
After the end of the Thai cave rescue, everyone returned to their own lives, but the story did not really end.
After the mountain search and rescue mission, the Green Boat rescue team evacuated the rescue site first. At Chiang Mai airport, Green Boat rescue team members Cao Caihong and Meng Zhigang were waiting for their flight back to Beijing, with a full set of rescue equipment that stood out among the pedestrians coming and going. The duo was constantly recognized by passersby. Although the language barrier, but still can not stop the Thai people a steady stream of thanks.
After a woman passed by and gave them water, she said a few words in Thai, which Cao Caihong and Meng Zhigang did not understand, and the woman turned around and left. About ten minutes later, she came back and handed over her cell phone with a few lines written on the screen with translation software: “Thank you! I wish you a safe journey!”
The other two Green Boat members, Wang Xudong and Du Lianyang, were sent to Phuket to learn to dive to enhance diving rescue capabilities.
The two just arrived in Phuket, the next day Phuket waters suddenly encountered a large storm, two cruise ships on the way back to the capsize accident. The 138 tourists on board were in danger, including 127 Chinese.
Wang Xudong and Du Lianyang joined the rescue in Phuket immediately after the cave rescue in Thailand. They organized competent local personnel to assist in the rescue and helped them establish a command and communication system. Subsequently, the two assisted in organizing 2 search and rescue teams composed of dive store instructors from Phi Phi Island, carrying a large amount of life-saving supplies to sail out to search and rescue ……
Green Boat rescue team members back row from left: Wang Lin, Du Lianyang, Wang Xudong, Meng Zhigang, Cao Rainbow (eighth from left), Thai-Chinese volunteer Fan Wenhao (front row, third from left) Green Boat rescue team members back row from left: Wang Lin, Du Lianyang, Wang Xudong, Meng Zhigang, Cao Rainbow (eighth from left), Thai-Chinese volunteer Fan Wenhao (front row, third from left)
Pinglan’s team members brought a large amount of rope equipment with them when they set out from Beijing. After a long time of immersion in the cave, the service life of the rope will be greatly shortened if it is not dried in time. During the rescue, suffering from no place to dry, Li Shuo had to lay the rope in the room on the carpet to dry, but accidentally soiled the carpet.
The nickname is “soldier” of the man, deeply sorry, wrote on the note “Sorry for dirty.
The next day, from the cave rescue out of Li Shuo, and back to the hotel room to rest, sweep a glance at the bedside table, found that received a “letter”: “Im OK. Welcome to our hotel, my hero!”.
Back row, from left, Pinglan Charity Foundation: Tan Xiaolong, Chinese volunteer translator Wang Zhitian, Zhou Yahui, Wang Ke, Tan Zhang, Zhang Guangrui, Li Shuo, Gong Hui, Wang Yingjie, Thai volunteer translator Zhang Mengna (front row, first from left), Chinese volunteer translator Huang Yuan (front row, second from left), back row, from left, Pinglan Charity Foundation: Tan Xiaolong, Chinese volunteer translator Wang Zhitian, Zhou Yahui, Wang Ke, Tan Zhang, Zhang Guangrui, Li Shuo, Gong Hui, Wang Yingjie, Thai volunteer translator Zhang Mengna (front row, first from left), Chinese volunteer translator Huang Yuan (front row, second from left)
There are still some heroes who have been given a higher honor.
The two British divers who first found the child, Rick and John, have once again become national heroes. The former vice chairman of the British Conservative Party sent out a tweet calling on the British public to apply for the George Cross for the two men – the Commonwealth’s highest civilian honor, recognizing the most outstanding human courage in situations of extreme danger. Tens of thousands of Britons have voiced their support.
Two of Ben’s Australian friends, Richard Harris and Craig Challen, along with several other Australian rescuers, also became Australian national heroes, and Richard and Craig were individually awarded Australia’s second highest award, the Star of Courage, in recognition of for their outstanding performance in the deepest part of the cave on the day of the rescue.
Of course, not everyone has become a “National Hero”, there are many unknown heroes who contributed in their own way to the rescue.
When the rescue site was in urgent need of rescue diving equipment, Mr. Li Shuyen, the general agent of ScubaPro China, raised 10 sets of brand new equipment from the Asia Pacific office, assembled and debugged the equipment, and immediately couriered it to the rescue site and applied it to the rescue of the Thai and U.S. troops. Mr. Li Shuyen said, save the children is important, please do not mention money.
College student Mengna Zhang, a local Chinese born in Thailand. At the beginning of the search and rescue, she volunteered to contact the Tourism Authority of Thailand to volunteer. Since July 1st, she has been involved in translating and documenting the rescue operation, and also donated 8,000 RMB together with her mother.
By the way, there is Ben.
The Belgian returned to his wife’s side after the rescue was over. This time he could finally enjoy his vacation in peace. After the vacation, he could teach and dive again in Phuket at the same time.
We asked Ben, those technical diving experts either became national heroes or were awarded medals of honor, did you receive any awards or recognition?
He smiled happily and contentedly and said, I received a lot of commemorative T-shirts from the locals.
On July 24, at the local temple of Doiwa in Mysore, 11 youngsters from the “Wild Boars” soccer team and their coach Ekapol, wearing wide white T-shirts, sat in a row on their knees with their hands folded and their heads bowed in preparation for the shaving ceremony.
Among the soccer team, only Adul, a stateless Christian from Myanmar, did not participate in the shaving ceremony. The teenagers will become young shamans at the temple, and Ekapol will briefly become a monk, and in order to express gratitude and prayers to the fallen Saman and the rescue heroes of various countries, they will begin a nine-day monastic practice at the temple.
On August 8, the governor of Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province, Thailand, issued Thai identity cards to the three children of the “Wild Boars” soccer team and coach Ekapol – all of whom had been stateless until then.
Maybe the lives of these heroes will be different, maybe they will never cross paths again. But that doesn’t seem to matter. In the abyss of the cave, unknown to each other, they were briefly allied.
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