The Rescue

National Geographic is releasing a documentary about the Thai cave rescue, appropriately titled The Rescue, and here explorer extraordinaire Jill Heinerth gives her opinion on the film

Photographs courtesy of National Geographic

In the summer of 2018, the world watched as one of the

most unlikely and heroic rescues of all time unfolded in the rainy jungles of Thailand. Although few are unaware of the outcome of the rescue, most viewers will be shocked by the close calls, logistics and fortunate circumstances that made the mission a success.

On 26 October, National Geographic has a special theatrical release of their new documentary film, The Rescue. Directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, the film has already won The People’s Choice Award for Documentaries at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Telling a story this complex is challenging, but the filmmakers got it right. I was riveted with the re-enactments and surprised that so much real-time coverage was available for the edit. Significantly, I was relieved that the filmmakers did their due diligence to celebrate the reported 10,000 people that came together to save the team. The film focuses on the diving team, featuring the hairy logistics of finding and then evacuating the children from what might have been their tomb almost 4km from the cave entrance. On 23 June, 12 young ‘Wild Boars’ footballers between the ages of 11 and 16 entered the cave with their coach Ekkaphon Chanthawong after practice. The cave beneath the ‘Mountain of the Sleeping Lady’ was a favourite playground for the soccer team and other local kids. On this day, the kids dropped their bicycles at the entrance and headed into the gaping maw of Tham Luang Nang Cave. The network of passages is over 10km long, with twisting tunnels that thread beneath the Doi Nang Non mountain range. Although seasonal flooding causes closure of the cave each year, on this day, nobody was concerned. The rainy season was still a month away.

As night fell, parents started to get worried that the kids had not returned from practice and the word went out to local authorities. British caver Vern Unsworth, a resident of Thailand, was one of the first to respond to the call. He planned cave mapping efforts that day and was surprised to learn it was flooding. Unsworth knew that they had to act quickly. He advised the Thai government about the dangers of the situation, leading them to bring in the British Cave Rescue Council (BCRC) and Thai Navy SEALs.

John Volanthen in full cave-dive regalia

He offered ‘Nobody’s to blame, not the coach, not the boys.

They were just very unlucky... It wasn’t just the rain that day, the mountain is like a sponge and waters from earlier rains were raising the levels’. As the rain continued to fall, the underground river became an almost impassable torrent of chocolate brown water. Within five days, the United States Air Force Tactical Rescue Squadron, Australian Federal Police Dive Team, Chinese divers, and others arrived at the entrance, but not enough expert support with the right skills and gear. Teams combed the mountainside for alternate access, and others installed massive pumps to dewater the cave. But Unsworth knew they needed the most-experienced cave rescue divers in the world to assist. Thai-based Belgian diver Ben Reymenants, French diver Maksym Polejaka and other local explorers were busy laying line in the fast water, but they needed help. It was then that Unsworth sent a note requesting the government to fly in Rick Stanton and John Volanthen from England. With the cave water still rising and running faster, Rick and John As the rain continued to fall, the underground river became were the best chance for finding the boys. Few of the team thought that a rescue would ever happen. In the film, a government official holds up the note from an almost impassable torrent of chocolate brown water Unsworth, and the scene breaks to England, where we learn about Stanton and Volanthen. If you aren’t a member of the cave diving community, you might not know their names. If you saw some of their homemade gear, you might dismiss them as hacks. But these two men have the ingenuity and perseverance that few possess. Contrary to what most might assume, cave diving rescuers are rarely compensated or even reimbursed for their expenses. Most often, cave diving recovery divers pay all of their costs and take personal time to assist during a crisis. They do so out of a sense of community, generosity and knowledge that they are the best practitioners of the sport. Stanton and Volanthen have an unmatched exploration portfolio and have had to respond to complicated cave diving body recoveries on numerous occasions. Beneath their steady outward demeanor in the film are souls affected by the weight of enormous responsibilities brought on by their sheer talent.

When Stanton and Volanthen first entered the cave, they discovered a team of four Thai volunteer pump operators trapped by rising water. Had the chaos outside the cave left these men unsupported and overlooked? What other surprises might the dive team encounter? Extricating the pump workers proved extremely risky, leaving Rick and John to wonder how they could ever evacuate the kids if they could find them.

On 2 July, ten days after the Wild Boars team first entered the cave, Rick and John

Cave divers Rick Stanton and John Volanthen in diving gear Cave diver Rick Stanton preps for dive Cave divers Rick Stanton and John Volanthen inside cave

Rick Stanton assembling his dive kit

On 2 July, ten days after the Wild Boars team first entered the cave,

Rick and John found the children and their coach. They were generally safe but hungry

found the children and their coach. They were generally safe but hungry. Four kilometres from the entrance and almost a kilometre below the top of the mountain, 13 lives were in grave danger. Expecting to find bodies, Stanton and Volanthen had prepared themselves for a grim discovery. When they surfaced in a putrid-smelling vaulted chamber where the team had found high ground, they were shocked by the boys declaring ‹thank you!’ While I was working on a film in Greenland, I recall watching the news and thought I heard Stanton or Volanthen say ‹believe’ repeatedly and ‹how many of you are there?’ I wasn’t sure if they were convincing the children that help would soon return, or whether they were convincing themselves that what they were seeing was real. In either case, the British pair were distraught that the possibility for rescue was extremely slim and that the fresh faces they just met would not reach the surface alive.

Volanthen, a scout leader, shot a video of the boys for the waiting families and delivered it to the Thai Navy SEALs waiting in the Sump 3 Chamber. Even before Stanton and Volanthen had left the cave, the world was watching his video on news channels everywhere. It was time to celebrate, but the cave diving team knew the work had barely begun. There were few options for rescue before the rainy season would flood the passages to the ceiling. Other circumstances were presenting a dire situation. The unsanitary conditions in the damp cave chamber were leading to health issues among some of the boys. Although mentally strong, the kids were frail and hungry, and the oxygen levels were dropping as the carbon dioxide levels rose. With every breath, conditions were worsening.

As Thai Navy SEALs headed into the cave with food, medical supplies and emergency blankets, the British cave divers were asked to serve as advisors. Stanton and Volanthen knew their services would be required again, so they produced a list of critical people needed on site. The dive to reach the kids would take up to six hours, with a return time of five hours. Strong currents, zero visibility, and squeezes as tiny as 38cm x 72cm would make the dives difficult and successful rescue seemingly impossible. Fortunately, the heavy rains broke, giving the pump teams a chance to make progress. They eventually removed approximately one billion litres of water from the cave, a critical task for lowering the levels and reducing the torrent of fast water.

Still, they needed a miracle. As the families prayed outside the cave, Stanton convinced Dr Richard Harris, an anaesthesiologist, cave diving explorer and wilderness medicine expert, to fly in from Australia with his diving partner, Craig Challen. The two would consider an audacious plan that would involve rendering the children unconscious to get them out. But as the only anaesthetist, Harris would need to train the rescue team of fellow cave divers to monitor respirations and inject medications while evacuating

Tham Luang Nang Non is a karstic cave complex beneath Doi Nang Non, a mountain range on the border between Thailand and Myanmar. It is 10km long and has many deep recesses, narrow passages and tunnels.

Cave diver emerges from water

Divers working through the cave

the kids. Success was unlikely, and if the plan failed, his decisions might land Dr Harris inside the Thai judicial system.

Despite the chaos of the events, the movie excels in its well-paced presentation. The directors allow the footage to breathe, leaving viewers at the edge of their seats. The production is sparse and straightforward. Interviews with members of the rescue team are darkly lit like the cave and presented with the stoic matter-of-factness of the unshakeable men. Hints of emotion from the rescuers offer a more-profound reality that these cave divers sometimes practice their craft in the places where friends have died. You cannot see their faces without recognizing that each man carries heavy grief from their life experiences.

It would be impossible to capture the contributions of everyone involved in the mission in one short documentary. Still, the directors did an excellent job of accurately piecing together the viewpoints of the rescue cave divers while noting the contributions of the international groups that came together to climb, pump, organize and comfort. Roughly 10,000 people contributed to the efforts from nearly 100 government agencies. Police officers, military units, volunteers, engineers, doctors, priests, and cooks came together with optimism to pull off one of the most-inspiring events in diving history.

On 10 July, Richard Harris brought the last child out, moments before a major dewatering pump failed. The last rescuers abandoned equipment to escape the air-filled spaces as the water again flooded to the ceiling. The story is one of hope, success but also great sacrifice. One cannot forget that retired Thai SEAL Saman Kunan lost his life delivering supplies to the children, and SEAL diver Beirut Pakbara died from a blood infection contracted during the rescue. Harris also suffered a significant loss, learning of his father’s passing soon after leaving the cave.

From a grateful cave diving community, I want to express my congratulations and thanks to everyone on the rescue team. You are the pride of our sport, offering the world both hope and optimism in a dark time. n

A diver swims through an underwater cave Jason Mallinson rappels down industrial site

The Rescue premiere

The Rescue will have a one-night-only premiere event in the UK and Ireland on Tuesday 26 October, before opening in cinemas on Friday 29 October. https://films.nationalgeographic.com/the-rescue