By Anne RinaudoWednesday 18 Jul 2018Open House InterviewsInspirational StoriesReading Time: 3 minutes
The soccer team and coach trapped in the Tham Luang Cave in Northern Thailand have lived through an unbelievable experience. They faced the real prospect of death in a dark, muddy, waterlogged cave. There was then the exhausting and risky international rescue mission they were not expected to survive.
Alone in the dark
The situation of the 12 children and their 25 year old assistant coach was dire. Their 16 day ordeal is something beyond normal experience. For nine days they were in the cave, not knowing if there was any prospect they would be found. They had even tried to dig their own way out.
Finally, expert British cave divers, John Volanthen and Richard Stanton found the group alive on an elevated rock about 4 kilometres from the cave mouth. The divers spoke to group and reassured them help was coming. Their message was translated by the only boy who spoke English, Adul Sam-on. He acted as interpreter for the group, answering the divers in English.
First sight of the missing
The soccer team expected to only spend an hour at the cave. However, fast rising water forced them to flee deeper into the labyrinth of passages and tunnels. They had taken torches and a small amount of food and water into the cave. By the time they were discovered at 10pm on July 2, they had exhausted the batteries and consumed the other supplies. The divers had no food or water for them but left a torch, promising to return. A video of the encounter, showing the boys and their interactions with the divers, was posted on Facebook by the Thai Navy SEALs.
Rescue or recovery?
Discovering them alive was cause for celebration but quickly the reality of how difficult it would be to rescue them became apparent. Australian cave divers Dr Richard Harris and Rick Challen were expecting to be taking part in a mission to recover bodies. As a rescue plan was devised the chance of all the team and the coach coming out alive was considered to be slim. Underscoring the risk, 38 year-old Saman Kuunan, an ex Thai Navy SEAL died while laying oxygen tanks in preparation for the rescue.
Massive international effort
The rescue efforts saw experts from many countries offer assistance. Massive pumps were delivered to the site to try in lower the water level and a makeshift tent kitchen sprung up to fee the thousands of people helping the effort. On the ground there were 900 Thai police and 2,000 soldiers from the Thai army. Equipment for the rescue included 10 police helicopters, seven police ambulances, more than 700 air canisters for the divers in the cave. More than 500 air canisters were in the cave at a time and 200 were rotated and refilled. More than 1 billion liters of water (about 400 Olympic swimming pools) was pumped from the cave. Farmers whose crops were flooded by the water were concerned only for the fate of the team and joined other volunteers to prepare food for the rescue workers.
Childhood trauma expert
Obviously we all hope to never be personally involved in such high risk drama, but what might the lost group have been experiencing? What are the psychological impacts of being lost and totally cut off from the outside world in a dark, wet muddy cave?
What were they going through during their orderal and are there on going concerns? Professor Justin Kenardy from the University of Queensland is an expert in childhood trauma. He explained some of the issues to Stephen O’Doherty on Open House
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