Lesson to be learned as Thai cave drama ends happily
The rescue of the young soccer players and their coach brought international attention, cooperation and despair when a diver died; now the flood-prone attraction should be closed during the rainy season and warnings issued
If the drama had not been playing out before our eyes from afar for days, it would have been difficult to imagine the plight and rescue against the odds – and the clock – of the Thai youth soccer team and its coach trapped in a waterlogged cave for more than two weeks.
It would have seemed like tempting fate to imagine that they could all be extracted safely from such a perilous situation. The drama with its happy ending is so astonishing you couldn’t make it up, as the saying goes.
The living proof that 12 boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach are now safe and recovering from their ordeal is to be found in a hospital in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand, where they were rushed for medical checks as they surfaced one by one with their rescuers.
People the world over share elated relief, following news that the last group of four boys and their coach had emerged safely from a treacherous 4km escape route in which they had to dive through dark, tight and winding passages.
It almost seems unfair given the seemingly flawless search and rescue operation that the relief is tinged with sadness over the death in the cave of a former Thai Navy Seal diver, 38, who came out of retirement to help.