A Thai soccer team and their coach have told how they tried to dig their way out of a flooded cave after becoming trapped. The boys were saved in a risky three-stage rescue operation by a team of international experts.
Image: Reuters/S. Zeya Tun
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The 12 young members of a Thai football team who were rescued after spending more than two weeks in a flooded Thailand cave complex spoke to the press about their ordeal for the first time on Wednesday.
Speaking at a conference broadcast on the government's "Thailand Moves Forward" television program, the boys answered carefully vetted questions submitted by journalists in advance.
The team, smiling and wearing matching jerseys, described what happened and how they felt when rescue divers first found them.
'A miracle'
"It was a miracle, I was shocked ... At the time, my brain was very slow, we had been in the cave for 10 days, I didn't know what to say," 14-year-old Adul Sam-on told the press conference.
The team said they had no food in the cave but found some drinkable water and that they "stayed still to conserve energy."
"I believed we could find a way out," one team member said when asked how he felt at the time,
Another boy said he was scared he would "get told off by my mum" when he got home.
Boys tried to dig way out
The team's coach, Ekkapol Chantawong, explained how they used a rope to communicate with each other while some of the group tried to find a way out. When they could not, the boys said they tried to dig their way out, and managed to go about three meters.
"We tried to dig out as we thought, we cannot only wait for authorities to get us," the coach said.
The team presented a framed portrait of 37-year-old Saman Gunan, the former Thai navy SEAL who died while placing oxygen canisters for the boys along a potential exit route. The picture was surrounded by personal messages of appreciation written by the team.
Medical professionals in attendance said the boys were all healthy and that the team had done "confidence building exercises" during their last night in hospital in preparation for the conference. They were to return home to their families on Wednesday evening.
An international rescue team retrieved the group in a risky three-stage operation that required days of preparation, including teaching the boys to use diving equipment.
Why it was so difficult to extricate Thai cave boys
After a daring rescue mission, Thai divers and international volunteers rescued 12 young soccer players and their coach from a flooded cave. The group was stranded in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex for 18 days.
Image: picture-alliance/Newscom
Happy ending after harrowing ordeal
After deliberating over how best to rescue the boys and their coach - considering even whether to teach them how to dive, or wait for the monsoon waters to recede months later - rescue workers finally settled on pumping out as much water as possible, sedating those trapped and strapping them to a diver who shepherded them to safety.
Image: Reuters/Thai Navy Seals
Found alive after nine days
Rescue divers initially found the 12 young soccer players and their coach alive on July 3 after they went missing in a Thai cave 10 days earlier. Fighting against time, rain and low oxygen levels, rescuers managed to free the first four boys successfully on July 8. The rescuers faced a complicated and dangerous diving mission to free the rest of the team and their coach.
Image: picture-alliance/Newscom
Glimpse of joy
Families of the teenage soccer players expressed their joy over the discovery of the boys nine days after they went missing. Outside the cave, the mother of one of the boys said she was "glad" for a glimpse of her son. "He's thinner," she said, as she ran her finger over the image of her son on a television screen.
Image: Thai Navy Seal via AP
Massive rescue efforts
Thai rescuers were assisted by an international team comprising experts from China, Australia, the USA and Britain. A video from the Thai Navy SEAL Facebook page showed the group several kilometers inside the 10-kilometer (6-mile) cave network on a small wedge of dry ground. The boys moved 400 meters further in as the ledge had become covered by water.
Trapped by flooding
The boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach entered the cave to celebrate one of the player's birthday. They became trapped in the cave, a local tourist spot where similar incidents have taken place in the past, when sudden rainfall flooded its entry on June 23. It was later reported that some of the boys could not swim, further complicating the rescue.
Image: picture-alliance/Xinhua
A difficult mission
The rescue mission proved difficult for divers whose efforts were continually hampered by rising water that filled sections of the cave, often forcing them to stop. Getting trained divers into the cave was easier than getting untrained kids out.
Image: Reuters/S. Zeya Tun
Boys' safety paramount
The entire nation was glued to the media coverage of the rescue mission, and Thai authorities insisted they will not compromise on the safety of the trapped group. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha (above, at right) thanked international experts who helped find the boys.
Image: picture alliance/Xinhua News Agency
First boys rescued
The first four boys were rescued by a team of 13 foreign diving experts and Thai Navy SEALS, who helped them navigate the flooded cave tunnels. The head of the rescue operation said they were the healthiest in the group. The rest of the boys and their coach would be rescued from the cave over the next two days.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/L. Suwanrumpha
Safe and sound
Doctors who treated the boys after their rescue reported that while they had lost weight, the otherwise appeared to be in good health. The dozens of divers and hundreds of other rescue workers have been celebrated around the world as heroes, especially 38-year-old former Thai Navy SEAL Saman Kunan, who died after bringing the group supplies of air on July 5.
Image: picture-alliance/AP/Thailand Government Spokesman Bureau
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Families advised to avoid media
Doctors have advised the players' families to avoid letting them contact journalists for at least one month.
"The reason to hold this evening press conference is so media can ask them questions and after that they can go back to live their normal lives without media bothering them," Thailand's chief government spokesman, Sunsern Kaewkumnerd, told French news agency AFP.
Thai leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha had urged media prior to the press conference to be "cautious in asking unimportant questions" that may cause damage.
Doctors and psychologists attended the conference to filter questions and ensure the boys' well-being.
Also on Wednesday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk apologized for using a derogatory term against a British cave diver who assisted with the rescue in a social media attack. The diver had ridiculed a plan spearheaded by Musk to use a miniature submarine recover the team.
