46x08 - Thai Cave Rescue

[bunniefuu]

NARRATOR:
In Thailand

[lightning crackles]

A flooded cave


and their soccer coach

trapped somewhere inside

With monsoon season
just beginning,

and water levels rising,

time is running out

[clock ticking]

♪♪

JOSHUA MORRIS:
They were moving so much water
out of there

The problem was,
it's like turning the faucet on

and trying to siphon water out
at the same time

NARRATOR:
As an international team
of elite divers

searches miles
of submerged passages,

the whole world watches
in suspense and wonders

REPORTER:
In Thailand, there is
a very concerning situation

NARRATOR:
"Can the boys still be alive?"

We came back
to some pretty horrifying news

NARRATOR:
But then

MAN:
How many of you?

MAN 2:
They're all alive

MAN 1:


NARRATOR:
Now an impossible decision
looms

How to bring 12 children out

The only option we had was
to go with the diving option

NARRATOR:
through some of the most
dangerous diving conditions

in the world?

KEN O'BRIEN:
Even the professional
cave divers said,

"This is some of the sketchiest
diving we've ever done"

ERIK BROWN:
You couldn't see your finger

in front of your face
until you touched your mask

NARRATOR:
A desperate mission begins

IVAN KARADZIC:
Panic usually leads
to instant death

♪♪

NARRATOR:
"Thai Cave Rescue,"

right now, on "NOVA"

♪♪

♪♪

NARRATOR:
It was a nightmare
that gripped the world

A stunning display of courage
and technical prowess

in the face
of life-threatening danger

The miraculous rescue

of these 12 young boys
and their soccer coach

from one of the deadliest
environments on Earth...

A flooded cave

♪♪

The Tham Luang cave
in northern Thailand

MAN:
Well, this is it, Tham Luang

NARRATOR:
It's a popular destination

for day-trippers
and adventurous locals

[camera shutter clicks]

In the dry season,

explorers plumb
its twisting depths

The cave is located within
the Doi Nang Non mountains

It winds
for an incredible six miles,

a limestone labyrinth
of tight passageways

and expansive chambers

Saturday, June 23, 2018


and their coach

venture inside the cave,

a trip to celebrate
a boy's birthday

[thunder rumbling]

But soon after,
the skies open up,

and a powerful monsoon storm
strikes

[lightning crackling,
thunder rumbling]

♪♪

In Mae Sai, where the boys live,
a rainy night has descended

Beginning to worry,
parents start calling around

and gradually learn
the boys have gone to the cave

When they travel there,

they are met
by an alarming scene

Bicycles locked to a fence,

along with abandoned
soccer cleats

Worse, water is rushing
into the cave,

with no sign of the boys

Officials are on the scene,

and, realizing the boys may be
in mortal danger,

some parents enter the cave

Among those desperate
to find them

is Mr. Bandit Phanphalakorn,

a close friend
of one of the boy's fathers

[speaking Thai]

[translated]:
I went in a short distance,

but didn't dare go any further

But one of the boy's fathers
continued with the rescue team

He went on
for about an hour and a half,

but started to have
breathing difficulties,

so had to return

NARRATOR:
It's now 1:00 a m,

and the boys have been missing
for half the night

But where are they?

What's happened to them?

Fearing the worst,

local governor
Narongsak Osottanakorn

makes a tough call

[speaking Thai]

[translated]:
From that Saturday night
until Sunday,

we realized we couldn't do
anything much

about the situation

So we decided to stop
the operation,

to rest and collect new crew
and equipment

[thunder clapping,
rain cascading]

NARRATOR:
If the boys are somehow
still alive,

deeper in the cave,

they'll have to spend the rest
of the night on their own

But as heavy rain continues,

can anyone really rest as water
levels continue to rise,

and not just at the entrance?

The intensified rainwater
is pouring

into a deep, underground stream
north of the cave,

causing water to flow furiously
down the northern passage,

trapping the boys somewhere
within the subterranean maze

To make matters worse,

water is also entering
from the south,

while the groundwater below
is thought to be rising,

flooding the cave
in many low-lying areas

[translated]:
I was very worried

I didn't eat,
didn't sleep much, either

I slept two to three hours,
because I was thinking,

because everyone was thinking
as if your own son was missing

♪♪

NARRATOR:
The next morning,

officials confront
a daunting question:

If the boys spent a terrifying
night in a dry part of the cave,

how can they be reached?

From the entrance,
it's impossible to tell

how badly flooded
the rest of the cave is

[talking in background]

To aid the search,
professional cavers arrive

You see where, you see where
it comes down like this

NARRATOR:
Among them is
the first foreign rescuer,

British caver Vern Unsworth

If we can get up there Mm-hmm

we can virtually get
to the GPS point

and then do a search

NARRATOR:
Having spent years exploring
the Tham Luang cave system,

Vern's knowledge of its layout
is vital to the search mission

Up on the mountain,
he leads a team hunting

for alternative access points
into the cave

[people talking on radio]

Another caver to arrive
is Noppadon Uppakham

This is one of the most
challenging rescues

he's attempted in a flooded cave

[Noppadon speaking Thai]

[translated]:
The rain was quite
a major obstacle,

because if the rainfall
increased,

we didn't know how much water
would enter the cave,

which could be dangerous
for anyone searching inside

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Cavers quickly discover
that in some places,

water is up to their necks

And farther along,

it has risen all the way
to the ceiling

It's now obvious

that if the boys are going
to be found alive,

qualified scuba divers with
cave experience are required

But how quickly can they be
brought to the scene?

♪♪

The governor calls in Thailand's
most formidable fighting force,

the Thai Navy SEALs

Like American Navy SEALs,

they're an elite branch
of the navy

that takes on
the most dangerous missions

With them is
Dr. Pak Loharachun,

a highly trained diver
and experienced doctor

of the Royal Thai Army

[speaking Thai]

[translated]:
I had worries

because we didn't know
the conditions inside the cave,

and crucially, we didn't know
exactly where the kids were

At that moment, the rescue was
at a critical stage,

as the water was torrential

♪♪

NARRATOR:
The rescuers need to make
a guess

about where the boys are

[camera shutter clicking]

Luckily, there are some maps
of the cave,

produced in the 1980s
by French cavers

No one knows
how accurate they are,

but from what can be pieced
together,

the interior looks like this

The cave system is thought to be
about six miles long

A daunting distance,

but such a long cave offers
the hope

that there are plenty of places

dry enough
for the boys to retreat to

and flee the rising water

One section,
called Pattaya Beach,

looks particularly promising,

as its elevation suggests

it may have stayed dry
during the flooding

But Pattaya Beach
is about one-and-a-quarter miles

from the flooded cave entrance

That might mean swimming
a vast distance underwater

in tight spaces

and pitch-black,
murky conditions

[translated]:
The SEALs team started work
immediately

when we were first told to look
for the kids

Each day, we tried to go as far
as possible inside the cave

♪♪

NARRATOR:
As is normal protocol,
the SEALs lay a guideline

so they can find
their way out again

In zero visibility,
a guideline is a lifeline

The SEALS brace themselves

in preparation
for what they might find

They push as far as they dare,

but their air supply is
too limited

Thankfully, they find no bodies

But that means the boys must be
even deeper inside

♪♪

Meanwhile,
the water continues to rise

♪♪

Rescuers try to stabilize levels
by draining as much as possible

using heavy-duty
pumping equipment

♪♪

But despite the rescue efforts,

water levels inside the cave
aren't decreasing

And rescuers worry

that Pattaya Beach
may already be flooded

♪♪

But they know the cave continues

for a long way beyond that point

So they can only hope the boys
were able to move

even farther into the cave

But now,
after more than 72 hours,

the boys would be facing
other serious problems

Any food they had with them

would likely have been eaten
or ruined

And despite the flooding,

there may not be water
that's safe to drink

[speaking Thai]

[translated]:
Humans can survive for three
to four days without water,

if they are not sweating

But without water,

the system inside the body
breaks down,

the kidneys stop working,
and so on

Eventually, we cannot survive

NARRATOR:
Day four

[talking in background]

The whole world is now following
the story

REPORTER:
In Thailand,

there is
a very concerning situation

Hundreds of searchers
on the ground desperately look

for 12 young Thai soccer players
and their coach

missing now since Saturday

NARRATOR:
The search has now become
an international effort,

as rescuers arrive
from across the globe

A makeshift rescue headquarters
is set up outside the cave

And up on the mountain,

hundreds of volunteers continue
the search

for an alternative way
into the cave...

Still hoping
they can reach the boys

through another opening

[radio squawking]

[translated]:
The cave is limestone,
full of cracks and holes,

so we would walk the area

in the hope of finding
any possible sinkholes

to be able to climb down
inside the cave

NARRATOR:
But finding
an alternative entrance,

much less one that connects
to the boys,

is like trying to find a needle
in a haystack...

With no guarantee
it's even there to find

For parents
and the local community,

the ordeal continues

[translated]:
We were stressed,
and couldn't sleep for worrying

Everybody started to wear down,

because we were sleeping
so little

and not getting enough rest

We were just waiting to hear
the news,

waiting at the cave entrance
to hear from whoever came out

NARRATOR:
Inside the cave,

rescue teams face
brutal conditions

[water burbling]

And as seasoned as they are
as military divers,

the Thai SEALs are not trained
for cave diving

They are learning as they go,

making the search
all the more dangerous

and psychologically challenging

It's time to call
for specialists

♪♪

Arriving on day five
are Rick Stanton

and John Volanthen...

Members of
the British Cave Rescue Council

and two of the world's
most experienced rescue divers

John and Rick immediately don
their scuba gear

and plunge into the cave
to assess the challenge

[water burbling,
breathing through air hose]

Soon, Erik Brown
and Ivan Karadzic join them

Cave divers with this level
of experience are a rare breed

KARADZIC:
How many cave divers there are
globally?

There is probably,
at this level,

I think maybe less
than a hundred

NARRATOR:
They bring specialized equipment

and are provided
with vast quantities

of compressed air

KARADZIC:
As a cave diver, we always plan
for the worst-case scenario,

so we will come out of the cave
with a minimum, with a minimum

of a third of the gas supply
still intact,

in case something happens

♪♪

NARRATOR:
The search effort is proving
enormously complicated

So the Thai government reaches
out to the U S military

The Air Force's
Pararescue troops respond...

Elite airmen, trained to perform
rescue operations

in any environment imaginable

Major Charles Hodges
is their commander

HODGES:
When we landed in Chiang Rai,

it was about 1:00
in the morning,

on the 28th of June,
early Thursday morning,

and we went straight
to the mouth of the cave

And we realized,

"This is a different environment
than what we are used to

We really need to be smart
in how we, we handle this"

NARRATOR:
Inside the cave,

everyone fears the boys are now
in danger of starving,

even more so
because they're young and slim,

with few fat reserves

And they must be burning energy
just to stay warm

[Pak speaking Thai]

[translated]:
Normally, we can survive
without food

for seven to ten days

I mean, if the body is active

But if we lie still,

we can normally survive
without food

for about two to three weeks,
or even four

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Time is of the essence,

and it becomes clear

that pumping at the mouth
of the cave alone

isn't going to be enough
to lower water levels

♪♪

Groundwater engineer
Thanet Natisri comes up

with a new approach

♪♪

He wants to divert water away

from the myriad of sinkholes
on top of the mountain

to stop it running down
into the cave

and flooding it further

NATISRI:
They called me to see
if I can come in

and analyze the problem we have,

and see if I can manage water
inside the cave better

I know right away
that this project is not easy

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Josh Morris,

a Thai-speaking American
who has been translating

and coordinating between
the international dive teams

and the Thai authorities,

is also worried about conditions
inside the cave

MORRIS:
They were moving
so much water out of there

But the problem was,

it's like turning the faucet on

and trying to siphon water out
at the same time

There's only so much you can do

NARRATOR:
Thanet and Josh join forces
to battle the water

♪♪

With a huge team of volunteers
and military personnel,

they head for the mountain

Here we are

MORRIS:
Heading out to divert water
out of the cave,

to try and help these boys
get the water level down

[men speaking Thai]

NARRATOR:
Thanet instructs the team
to find openings

that could be channeling water
into the cave

♪♪

Using makeshift dams,
plastic pipes, and bamboo,

they begin to divert water
away from sinkholes

and down the mountain

Over the next day,
their efforts begin to pay off

Amazingly, even though
it's still heavily raining,

water levels inside the cave
finally stabilize

and start to drop

It's the rescue mission's
first real breakthrough

Day seven:

It's been a week
since the boys went missing

If by some miracle
they are still alive,

they are trapped
somewhere dark and wet,

with no food or clean water

No one on the outside
can fully comprehend

what the boys must be feeling,

and rescuers are concerned
for their mental well-being

So, too, is leading
trauma expert Dr. Jennifer Wild

of Oxford University

She's monitoring the rescue
intently,

and is on hand to shed light
on how the boys might be coping

WILD:
They would have been
having thoughts

about whether or not
they would stay there,

whether they would survive,

whether they'd get out
and see their family again,

whether they would die

And I think that would have been

quite a frightening time
for them

NARRATOR:
Dr. Wild thinks the boys' youth
might be an advantage,

protecting them from panic

WILD:
When we're younger,

there is a tendency to be
a bit more concrete

in our style of thinking,

which is actually protective

So when we're faced
with a problem,

we focus very much
on the here and now

♪♪

NARRATOR:
At the cave,
another glimmer of good news

By pumping water out

and diverting it away
from sinkholes,

rescuers have now succeeded
in partially draining

the first half-mile of the cave,

so the opening section
is more or less walkable

Rescue efforts intensify

Hundreds of air tanks
and supplies

are brought almost a mile in,

to a staging point
they name chamber three

Divers prepare for what might be
their final push

KARADZIC:
They'd been in there

for about nine days,

and without food,
potentially without water,

so we didn't know
their, their situation,

so I was not sure
in what condition

we would find them in

♪♪

NARRATOR:
After ten days,

and with thousands of people
now involved in the search,

we still don't know if the boys
and their coach are alive

Once more, divers deploy
into the darkness

KARADZIC:
From the outside,
it looked like an ants' nest

There was people everywhere,
movement everywhere,

and it looked
like it was chaotic

There were soldiers,
there were civilians,

doctors, divers, engineers,

hoses, lots of equipment,

and lots of media out there

But then, as we got introduced
to the different teams,

we started to see
that this is not chaotic

There is actually a master plan
behind all that

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Soon after arrival,

Ivan and Erik discover
just how brutal

conditions in the cave are

BROWN:
For me, this isn't
the type of conditions

that you would ever dive in

If there wasn't an end goal,
then in this situation,

you'd definitely say,
"I'm not going in there"

You couldn't see your finger
in front of your face

until you touched your mask

You couldn't see a rock

until you kind of
smacked your head on it

It had parts where you had

to come semi-vertical
on your side

to squeeze through

I mean, you would take a,
take a breath in

and squeeze your way
through some of the,

some of the tighter passages

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Leading the diving
are the two British divers,

Rick Stanton and John Volanthen

After hours of swimming

through the most perilous part
of the cave,

with zero visibility,

they finally reach
Pattaya Beach,

the point where hopes were high
that the boys would be found

But when they surface,

and shine their lights
into the dank darkness,

their hearts sink

There's no one here,

and now they only have
enough air

to go a little farther

It seems hopeless,

but they're so determined
to find some sign of the boys,

they run their tanks
as dry as they dare

Eventually,
they find an air pocket

and surface for the last time

And when they shine their light
into the darkness this time,

they finally make the discovery
everyone was hoping for

MAN:
How many of you?

MAN 2:
They're all alive!

MAN 1:
Yeah, 13

Brilliant!

[kids chattering]

NARRATOR:
The divers are nearly 1,000 feet
beyond Pattaya Beach

It's here

that the 12 tired, frightened
boys and their coach

have been seeking refuge

The boys come down the slope
to meet the two divers

MAN 1:
We are coming, it's okay

MAN 2:
It's okay

MAN 1:
Many people are coming

NARRATOR:


after a tense and desperate
ten days of searching

When the divers return
with the happy news,

the boys' families are elated

[cheering]

Their kids have been found alive

[translated]:
The moment we heard the divers
had found the boys

and they were safe,

right then, we felt very happy

We hugged,
we fell on each other hugging

[speaking Thai]

NARRATOR:
The good news spreads
around the globe

Enormous relief in Thailand,

as rescue teams found
that youth soccer team...

Look at that... alive in a cave

NARRATOR:
Any thought

that the divers would be facing
a "recovery task"

instead of a rescue

are thankfully relieved

But finding the boys
was the easy part,

compared to the challenge
they now confront:

mounting a rescue

BROWN:
The kids are found, so you had

this surreal moment
of happiness,

and then, you know,

that sort of calms down
a little bit,

and then, I think,
the realization

of what's going to have
to happen next

sinks in

You're like,
"All right, they found them,

but now what are we going
to do?"

[man speaking Thai]

[translated]:
The mission of how
to get them out

is harder than how to find them

Getting them out is not so easy

♪♪

NARRATOR:
As soon as the boys are found,

Dr. Pak of the Royal Thai Army,
a skilled diver,

makes the dangerous journey
to their location

He urgently needs
to assess them medically

[Pak speaking Thai]

[translated]:
First, I felt happy

Then I thought,
"What do I have to do next

"to take care of their physical
and mental health

so they are ready for us
to bring them out of the cave?"

I felt so relieved

that all the kids
could communicate well

and could move and stand up

I assessed them and concluded

that there were
no health complications,

no infections,
no symptoms that worried me,

and that made me feel very good

NARRATOR:
Ten days into their ordeal,

the boys and their coach
are famished

Dr. Pak provides them with
some much-needed sustenance,

tailored toward
their calorie-deprived state

He also notices the boys' feet
and hands still bear signs

of their rush to escape
the rising waters

[translated]:
When the kids tried
to escape the flood,

they had walked barefoot,

and so there were some cuts
on their feet

All I had with me
was an antiseptic

The way we dressed the wounds
wasn't medically correct,

because we only had
limited supplies,

so we did what we could

NARRATOR:
As well as taking care
of the boys' immediate needs,

Dr. Pak reveals
he will stay with them

Before the boys were found,

their coach,
a former Buddhist monk,

had come up
with a resourceful way

to help them overcome their fear

He taught the boys to meditate

WILD:
Meditation is really useful,
because it's all about

detaching from thoughts,

just recognizing
that they're thoughts,

and, um, slowing your breathing

And from that perspective,
it was really helpful

NARRATOR:
Shortly after learning
the children are alive,

the parents make
a special gesture

They choose to focus
on the gratitude they feel

toward the coach
for caring for their children

through such
an unimaginable ordeal

They write letters for the
divers to deliver to Coach Ake,

a touching and generous act
of support

WILD:
I think here in the West

it would have been
absolutely normal

for the parents to be furious,

but the parents responded
in such a gracious way,

writing letters to the coach,

would have helped him
not blame himself

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Above ground,

pressure mounts
on the authorities

to reveal their rescue plan

Will they leave the boys
in the cave

for what could be
several months,

until the monsoon rains end
and the water recedes?

Earlier in the mission,

anticipating that the boys
might not be able

to wait it out in the cave,

rescuers try to get them
out sooner

by flying a drill up
onto the mountain,

to open a shaft down to the boys
from above

It's a long shot,
but if it pays off,

it could shorten the boys' stay

But there's a problem

Creating an escape route

would take the best part
of a month at least

So even if drilling succeeds,

it's unlikely to be fast enough
to save the boys from drowning,

should the cave flood further,

leaving just one option:

a highly risky dive rescue

For U S Airman
Sergeant Ken O'Brien,

the idea
of swimming the boys to safety

is riddled with danger

O'BRIEN:
Originally, we thought
it could be a good idea,

but then we realized none of
them know how to scuba dive

I mean, that, that was clear,
they're children

And this is
the most dangerous diving

in the world

And even with
the professional cave divers,

they said this is some
of the sketchiest diving

they've ever done

NARRATOR:
And now there's a new problem

Oxygen is
the most important commodity

for both the rescuers
and the boys

At sea level,

oxygen concentration is 21%
in the atmosphere

But the prolonged presence
of the boys,

combined with the arrival
of the rescuers,

is using up the available oxygen
in the cave

faster than fresh air
can seep in from outside

MORRIS:
Oxygen levels in caves
can potentially shift

if they get blocked off
from the surface

And the more oxygen
you breathe in,

the more CO2 you breathe out,
so obviously

you're contributing
to the problem

NARRATOR:
Oxygen levels are edging
into a danger zone

KARADZIC:
The oxygen levels was tested

by the U K divers that went all
the way into the kids there

We have specialized equipment

that allows us to check
how much oxygen is in the air

So the reading of 15%

is, is okay,
you can survive that,

but we knew
it's not going to stay at 15

It's going to, every day, it's
going to go down a little bit,

and when you get
to about 12%, ten percent,

you can't survive that anymore

♪♪

O'BRIEN:
In our chamber,
in chamber three,

breathing rate was
a little higher

For the amount of work
you're doing,

you were a little more tired
than usual

NARRATOR:
The fear is lower oxygen levels

might cause the boys
to feel sick

And without a fresh supply
of air,

the problem will only get worse

[shouting, equipment moving]

Lack of oxygen is also a problem

for the rescue divers

The solution is to constantly
ferry hundreds of oxygen tanks

into the cave...

A time-consuming
and exhausting job

And it turns out

also a deadly one

At 1:00 a m on Friday,

day 14 of the rescue,

volunteer rescue diver
Petty Officer Saman Gunan

is returning
from an overnight mission

delivering oxygen tanks

[water burbling,
breathing through hose]

Saman is an experienced diver
and former Thai Navy SEAL

No one knows
exactly what happened,

but tragically, while swimming
back to base camp,

Saman becomes unconscious
and stops breathing

His dive partner swims
his limp body out

But by the time Saman is pulled
from the water,

it's too late

He's died

♪♪

The rescuers are shaken

The flooded cave has claimed
its first victim

We came back to some pretty
horrifying news on that day

Morale definitely took a hit

The last thing you want
in any rescue situation

is to for something like this
to happen

KARADZIC:
When you lose a team member
in any situation,

you get sad

But on top of that
Saman was not just any diver,

he was a former Thai Navy SEAL,

so he has a skill set
that is very high,

and that made you think
a little bit

that if a person
like, like Saman

can, can get into trouble

and lose his life in there,

maybe the same thing
could happen again

♪♪

[speaking Thai]

[translated]:
Everyone was upset

But it also made many people
from the SEALs team

more determined
to gather together and help

MICHAEL GALINDO:
It was kind of shocking,

like, "Hey, I was just talking
to this guy,

"you know, what a hero to come
out of retirement

"and to put himself
in harm's way

A lot of respect for him"

But it made it that much more
real being inside that cave

♪♪

NARRATOR:
Saman's death is
a stark reminder

of the dangers still ahead

Understandably, many rescuers
are now even more worried

about diving the boys out

[speaking Thai]

[translated]:
I thought of the kids' safety
straight away,

because every diver knows
it's dangerous

Honestly, I was worried
whether the kids would be safe

if we did it this way

♪♪

NARRATOR:
The boys' weakness, youth,
and lack of experience

suggest they might not make it
out alive

Officials are still considering
a plan

that would wait
to bring the boys out

until the monsoon rains
have stopped

But that could mean up to
four months' additional delay,

which could also prove deadly

[man speaking Thai]

[translated]:
At the same time,
another storm was expected

on Tuesday or Wednesday

If we did nothing, and
the water filled the cave again,

they might have
no dry place to stay

Who would want to take
the responsibility for that?

[thunder rumbling]

NARRATOR:
To help anticipate
the likely rainfall,

the Thai military
and the governor

are receiving
high-resolution forecasting

from Weather Decision
Technologies

in Norman, Oklahoma

Meteorologists here are warning
that the monsoon winds,

bringing widespread rain
to northern Thailand,

are about to intensify

The initial looks we did

at the monthly forecast
going forward

showed that the threat
for heavy rain

was going to be increasing

week after week after week

as we move farther
into the summer monsoon

So the reality of it was
more rain was on the way,

and the threat was going to get
substantially worse

the longer they waited

[air rushing through hose]

NARRATOR:
This dire warning
of intensifying rain

tips the scales and
forces the authorities' hand

They decide waiting will
only increase the peril

O'BRIEN:
The odds of those children
and the coach being alive

even another week,
let alone months, was very low

NARRATOR:
first went into the cave,

the Interior Minister signs off
on a risky rescue plan

And the following morning

Governor Osottanakorn makes
an announcement to the press

[Osottanakorn speaking Thai]

[translated]:
There's no better day
than today

We are ready

This is D-Day

NARRATOR:
The world,

and the boys' parents,

hold their breath

The Thai authorities have
decided that 13 people

who have never worn
scuba gear before

must attempt
a treacherous cave dive

that has already defeated
one highly experienced diver

There was no other choice

Not even something else...
I honestly believe there's

When you sort of go through
all the options

that sort of got put
on the table,

you sort of kind of
scratch them off

There's really only one left

We just knew
the only option we had,

even though it was not
a great option,

was to go with the diving option

KARADZIC:
The guys behind the plan,

both the divers and the medics
and the engineers...

They know
what they're talking about

It's not just something
they came up with

after five minutes' debate

They'd been sitting for hours
and hours and hours

and used their experience
to make sure

that our mission
and our planning

was making it as safe
as possible for the kids

"We are going to get
the kids out,

but it's not going to be easy"

♪♪

NARRATOR:
How can the divers protect
these inexperienced boys

from all of the dangers
they will face?

Divers from
the British Cave Rescue Council,

who will be at the vanguard
of the rescue operation,

rehearse their mission
in a nearby swimming pool

with some local children

Nothing quite like this
has ever been attempted before

So why has the job fallen
to these men?

The British Cave Rescue Council,

which had the divers
and also had coordinators,

without those guys,
this never would have happened,

and those guys are the best
in the world

NARRATOR:
Eventually, they develop
a straightforward plan:

[water burbling]

Swim each boy out of the cave

accompanied by a dedicated diver

[water burbling]

One of the biggest challenges

will be preventing each child
from succumbing to deadly fear

while traversing vast stretches
of black water

One of the things that
the operation was afraid of

was panic

Inside any kind
of overhead environment,

such as a cave,

panic usually leads
to instant death

♪♪

He's going to breathe
his gas faster,

he might take the equipment off
that he shouldn't do

And we cannot bring the
panicky diver up to the surface

NARRATOR:
First, they have to reduce
the fear of drowning

and ensure a reliable air supply

KARADZIC:
It was decided that
we had to find full face masks

Having a full face mask allows
the kids to breathe

both with their mouth
and with their nose

The kids then were using
a full face mask,

and they were positioned
in such a way

that their head was facing down

So that also allows
the U K diver

that was bringing the kid out
to kind of protect the kid

Whenever there was
an obstruction,

such as a rock or something,

the diver would hit the rock

instead of the kid hitting
the rocks

NARRATOR:
But even that may not be enough
to protect the boys

and keep them calm

So they decide to add
one more precaution

Each boy will be sedated for
most of his perilous journey

Inside the cave,

Dr. Pak is joined
by Dr. Richard Harris,

an Australian anesthesiologist
and cave diver

His task will be to administer
the precise dosage...

Enough to relax the boy

but not so much that
breathing becomes compromised

Finally, all is ready

♪♪

Early morning, Sunday, July 8

The first major rescue mission
is primed to begin

There are now five flooded areas
of the cave,

with shallow canals and
relatively dry areas in between

♪♪

Dozens of divers' air tanks have
been positioned along the route

U S airmen assist building
rope rescue systems

in key chambers

And 13 ambulances, one
for each child and their coach,

wait outside

Everybody,

especially
the boys' anxious parents,

are desperately hoping
there will be survivors

in need of them

You're not going to know
how things are going to go,

because this has never been done
before

You can have a pretty good plan

but something this complex
with these many moving parts,

it's, it's never going to go
exactly as planned

NARRATOR:
Now it's up to Dr. Pak
to prepare the boys

[speaking Thai]

[translated]:
I explained every single detail

so that they could understand,

and also it was a good way
to assess their mental state,

whether they were ready to do
this or not

And everyone was okay with it,

everyone was ready to leave
the cave,

whichever way

NARRATOR:
The Thai government
has not commented,

but the boys are believed
to have been administered

with a mild c*ck of the
sedatives Valium and ketamine

to calm them

and create a state called
"dissociative anesthesia,"

meaning the boys will be able
to breathe by themselves

but won't be conscious enough
to panic

or do anything dangerous

♪♪

The rescue begins
at the boys' location,

dubbed chamber nine

All along the route,

different rescue teams are
stationed,

nervously poised
for the big moment

The divers from
the British Cave Rescue Council

take turns swimming the boys
through the flooded areas

They dive alone,
about 30 minutes apart,

for stretches as long
as 15 minutes,

or nearly 1,200 feet...

And through areas as narrow
as two feet

When the British divers reach
a dry section,

other divers take over

and carry the boys
out of the water

to the next dive location

In the flooded depths of the
cave,

the so-called Euro divers,
Ivan and Erik, are sent

to man chamber six

The Euro team's role
at that point

was to go into
the area called chamber six,

which is roughly halfway
into the cave

When the rescue diver,

the U K diver and the kid came
to our position,

we assisted them by
with changing their tanks

and also making sure that the
kid was still in good condition

One of the things we had to do,

the kids were using something
called a full face mask,

and we needed to make sure that
this mask did not leak at all

Obviously, if any kind of water
was to come into the kid's mask,

that could have meant drowning

NARRATOR:
But before Ivan can even reach
his post,

he runs into trouble

KARADZIC:
About one minute into the dive,

maybe even less,

my helmet somehow gets trapped
in the ceiling above me,

and too-short strap is
strangling me

And I know that letting go of
this rope is not a good idea,

because I will lose
my orientation totally,

but also know that not breathing
is a really bad idea

[breathing through hose]

And I choose to let go
of the rope,

so I can use both my hands
to undo the strap

I get the helmet off,

get it free from the entrapment
in the ceiling,

and then I go to the position
where I think the rope is,

and it's not there

[water burbling]

I find the rope again
after 45 seconds,

or a minute
or something like that,

it felt like a lot longer

NARRATOR:
Ivan makes a narrow escape

Now he and Erik wait
in their chamber

for the first diver,
and the first boy, to surface

BROWN:
You're sitting in
the darkest place in the world

And when you're in there
for longer periods of time,

your mind starts playing tricks
on you

There's a couple times me
and Ivan sort of popped up,

thinking that, you know,
we saw light down there

and give a yell,
don't get anything back

KARADZIC:
Now I can see the light
from the diver

and can see the silhouette
of the U K diver,

and I can see that
he's holding onto something,

dragging something
through the water

When I get to
about five, six, seven meters,

I can see that from whatever it
is he's carrying in the water,

I can see bubbles coming up
to the surface,

which obviously indicates
that the kid is still breathing

and that was probably
my best experience

on, on this entire mission

NARRATOR:
When the divers and boys escape
the flooded part of the cave,

they are met in chamber three
by U S Air Force rescuers

The scariest part about this
is I had no idea the condition

of any of the boys or the coach

There was a good chance that any
one of them could have come up

and been dead

I would turn the child so that
they were face up towards me,

and I would listen

to make sure that they weren't
working too hard to breathe

NARRATOR:
It's still nearly half a mile

from chamber three
to the mouth of the cave,

where the ambulances are waiting

In one section,

rescuers use a high-line
to haul the boys' Skedco,

a special stretcher,
up a steep slope

Once they hooked up the child
to the Skedco,

and we started bringing him
across

with the safety line,

there's two spots where there
was these rocks in the way,

where we had one guy just help,
assist him up

and pull him over

Very carefully, right,

because it's super slippery,
it's dark,

you know, everyone just has
their headlamps

♪♪

I kind of felt like the entire
thing was "Mission: Impossible"

The Sked stretcher was passed
off to the Navy SEALs,

who had an army of people
in there

to do a human chain to pass
the sled all the way down

♪♪

NARRATOR:
The rescued boys are rushed
one-by-one to the hospital,

by ambulance or helicopter

Their parents begin to get word

but aren't told which children
have been rescued

or who's still in the cave

[cheering]
[man speaking Thai]

BANDIT [translated]:
Every time the children were
brought out,

we hoped it would be our child

All the time
they were coming out,

we were hoping

NARRATOR:
By the end of day 18,
Tuesday, July 10,

all 12 boys and their coach
are free,

and all are healthy

Against all odds,
the 18-day ordeal

that had people around the world
fearing the worst

has ended in a miracle,

thanks to an audacious rescue

All 12 boys... every child
from that soccer team

has been rescued

NARRATOR:
It's an unprecedented triumph

[cheering]

But as the world celebrates,

inside the cave,

there are still dozens
of rescue workers

And nearly a mile and a half
into the mountain,

Dr. Pak and three Navy SEALS
still need to escape

from the boys' location

They begin their exodus,
and not a moment too soon

Crucial pumps diverting
the water give out,

and levels begin to rise

[speaking Thai]

[translated]:
I thought it would be easy
to dive out,

because they were pumping
the water away

But seven out of the nine pumps
weren't working,

so there was a lot of water
flooding in

NARRATOR:
By deciding to leave
equipment behind,

the rescuers make it out
in the nick of time

O'BRIEN:
You finally get out of the cave,

and that's when you can finally
be excited

I mean, you're, you were
completely exhausted,

but it was exciting,

there was rows
of people cheering,

high fives, flashes

[cheering]

BROWN:
They bought a little bit of KFC
in for us

I think there was a little
bottle of Jack Daniels

that sort of got passed around

and everyone had a little
celebratory sip

I mean, it was just lots of hugs

NARRATOR:
The thousands of volunteers from
Thailand and around the world

pulled off a miraculous rescue
entirely against the odds

a marvel of bravery
and human endeavor

[cheering]

HODGES:
Just on a personal level,

I've got four kids

To see 12 of these kids
and then the coach get rescued

was incredibly satisfying

♪♪

OSOTTANAKORN [translated]:
I felt so proud to be
a part of it,

one of 10,000 people who made
this mission successful

♪♪

[translated]:
It makes me happy to see

that there are great moments
like this in the world

KARADZIC:
Being part of changing
the impossible

to the possible,

and that feels
that feels very good

It feels great

MORRIS:
Knowing that

you might see a dead child
come up out of the cave

was really challenging

And, uh, yeah,
seeing 13 boys come out, whoa,

and the four SEALS, that was,
that was pretty amazing

NARRATOR:
This incredible story
of human endurance

riveted the world's attention

DIVER:
We are coming

Many people are coming

NARRATOR:
It was a testimony
to the resolve

of the people of Thailand,

and showed us all
what can be achieved

by combining sacrifice, bravery,
and teamwork

with innovation and technology

But much more than that,

the amazing Thailand cave rescue
gave 12 boys and their coach

a future
that many feared was lost

♪♪