Three years ago the cave drama of Thailand moved the world. Twelve young footballers and their coach were locked in for around two weeks – and in the end miraculously survived.
Bangkok – The story is the perfect material from which Hollywood blockbusters are woven: Twelve young people and their supervisor are locked in a cave system in a tropical country. The world worries too.
Are the boys still alive? Can they defy hunger and despair? Will the rescuers get there in time? Three years ago, on June 23, 2018, exactly this drama took its course in reality. During an excursion, the group was surprised by floods, and the way back was suddenly impassable.
A look back: The young footballers of the U16 team and their coaches have been missing deep in the Tham Luang Cave in Thailand for nine days when the redeeming news comes on July 2nd: Everyone is alive. However, they are four kilometers from the entrance. A race against time begins, because in order to free the boys between 11 and 16 years old, they have to make it out of the branched cave by diving. Some of them cannot swim at all.
Experts familiarize them with full face masks and breathing underwater. But on July 5th, a diver from the Thai elite unit Navy Seals, who had transported compressed air cylinders into the cave, died on the way back. Doubts are growing as to whether a rescue is even possible.
In letters to their parents, which they give to a rescue diver, the teenagers assure: “Don’t worry, we are all strong.” After 17 days, a big sigh of relief: The last four boys and their trainer have escaped their rock prison – at the last minute as the rain threatened to flood the cave further.
Since the end of March, the disaster with the miraculous outcome has been filmed in Australia and Thailand. Directed by Ron Howard (“A Beautiful Mind”, “Illuminati”), “Thirteen Lives” is primarily intended to tell the story of the rescuers – specialists who flew to Chiang Rai Province from all over the world to get to the trapped. A real epic hero then.
The cast is impressive: Viggo Mortensen (“Lord of the Rings”) plays Richard Stanton, one of the most experienced cave divers in the world. Colin Farrell (“The Gentlemen”) takes on the role of John Volanthen, another cave diving legend. Stanton and Volanthen were the first to get to the trapped. They installed a guide line for orientation for other divers. Both were honored with the George Medal, the second highest civil honor for valor in Great Britain.
Volanthen wrote a book about the grueling days in Thailand in the corona pandemic. “I hope that it serves as inspiration and hopefully provides useful information,” said the 50-year-old from Bristol last told the BBC. “For me it was completely unbelievable that they were all alive.” He was almost certain “that we would all find them dead or that we would have to separate the living from the dead”. Instead, they all crouched on a ledge, reasonably healthy. “So it was a feeling of disbelief and pure joy.” Volanthen said he was extremely proud that Ron Howard was telling the story in a film.
Meanwhile, it has become rather quiet around the rescued. Many of the boys, like other people of the same age, are out on Instagram, where they post photos from everyday life and from their most recent football matches. However, some of them have more than 100,000 followers to this day.
And what about the cave three years after the disaster? In the months that followed, about a million people traveled to the location of the drama. For a long time, however, they were not allowed into the rock grottos. The Tham Luang Cave was only reopened for tourists in autumn 2019. However, since then visitors can only explore the entrance area and the first chamber – better safe than sorry.
The stalactite cave has been closed again because of Corona since April. Thailand is currently battling its worst virus wave yet. But interest had already decreased significantly before that, says Kawee Prasompon, head of the Pha Doi Nang Non National Reserve Forest, in which the cave is located. “In the first year there were 3,000 to 4,000 visitors a day. In the following year, the number fell to around 1,000 a day, and in the third year only a few people came because of the Corona crisis, ”he says.
The government has so far supported the maintenance of the cave with just two million baht (53,000 euros) annually, which is mainly used to pay for the park’s employees, said Prasompon. However, a renovation of the cave is still planned – but that will be tackled at the earliest next year. And so the third anniversary of the accident will take place in silence: A commemoration on site is not planned, said Prasompon. This is currently impossible because of the pandemic. dpa
