From that point, Josh acted as the chief liaison between the Thai government and armed forces, the US Airforce PJs and the BCRC ensuring that various teams and organisations were on the same page. There were also fears that the level of oxygen needed for normal functioning was dropping in the boy's chamber.Īt several meetings throughout the day, Josh played a key role in liaising between the international team of experts and the Thai authorities, ensuring everyone had a common understanding of the situation and how they could move the operation forward.
With the monsoon season approaching, the divers were concerned that if the water levels were to rise by just one metre it would become impossible for them to swim against the strong current.
#British diver lost caves free
Additionally, famous monks visited the cave to pray for the safe return of the boys offering incense and flowers and even a piglet and rabbit that roamed free in the cave.īy 6 July the urgency of the rescue operation intensified. Water was diverted out of the cave, a stone diversion dam was built upstream and pipes were used to siphon water past any sinkholes to reduce the levels to ensure a dive would be possible. The team mapped out the cave and identified dry areas, diving depths and equipment needed. Numerous options were discussed, including teaching the boys basic diving skills. However, finding the boys was just the beginning, the real rescue (getting the boys out) was about to begin. On 2 July, after going through narrow passages and muddy waters, British divers John Volanthen and Richard Stanton found the group alive. Taw and his team entered the cave with Vern and went all the way to the T-Junction.When it became clear that a dive rescue would be necessary, Taw and his team became part of the search for alternate entrances into the cave. Taw was called by the Chiang Rai rescue teams to help find the boys on the very first day that they were reported lost in the cave. On June 26, he advised the Thai government to seek expert dive assistance from the British Cave Rescue Council (BCRC). On 23 June 2018, the boy's football team ('the Wild Boars') entered Tham Luang Cave for an afternoon adventure that went wrong – they were trapped by rising waters and ended up stuck deep in the cave for nine days before being discovered.īritish caver, Vern Unsworth, who lives in Chiang Rai and has detailed knowledge of the cave worked hard for two days to find the boys. The stories from inside the cave were hugely moving and affecting.
Despite several seemingly impossible challenges during the rescue mission, total commitment was given by the rescue team to get the boys out. His brother-in law Taw is chief instructor at CMRCA.īoth captivated the audience with their experience of what it was like to be a key part of the first rescue of its kind in the world. In December 2002, Josh founded Chiang Mai Rock Climbing Adventures (CMRCA) and has been living in Chiang Mai for over 19 years. In 1999 he moved to northern Thailand, an area littered with caves and an amazing playground to learn and develop his climbing and caving skills. In the early 1990s he began rock climbing, instantly becoming addicted to the physical and mental challenges it provided. Josh is from Salt Lake City and grew up hiking, biking and skiing on the surrounding mountains. But no one knew what actually happened, so we did want to tell our story.On Wednesday, 20 February the TTS Foundation was delighted to host an evening with Joshua Morris and Noppadon Uppakham (Taw), who played a pivotal role in rescuing the Thai children's football team in the Tham Luang Cave in July 2018. “Every day we went in and brought the boys out. “We say that in Thailand we made it possibly look a bit too easy,” said Stanton. It promises to re-tell the story of the rescue in nailbiting detail.
The result is The Rescue, a documentary film, which was released in the US on 8 October and opens in the UK on 29 October. Stanton, along with six other British divers, was recreating the extraordinary Tham Luang cave rescue mission in which he took part, an operation that gripped the world’s attention in 2018, and which saved 12 teenage footballers and their assistant coach who had become trapped in the north Thailand cave. He was preparing to plunge into the underwater filming stage at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire: a six-metre deep tank, surrounded by dark walls prepared with an artificial cave passage. In October 2020, Rick Stanton readied his wetsuit, dive harness, cylinders and regulators. One of the team who found the 12 young footballers tells of restaging the mission for a film Richard Stanton, one of the volunteers who helped in the rescue operation for the Thai children’s football team and their coach. Photograph: Jonathan Williams/Facebook