Love and thanks to my mum, Pam, brother, Dale, and sister, Caitlin, for always being there for me.
Phoebe Bridgers’s album Stranger in the Alps provided the soundtrack to my time in Mae Sai and while writing this book.
My thanks to everyone who generously gave their time for interviews. Many people were hounded by the media and I appreciate those who took the time to share their perspectives with me.
Finally, to the boys and Coach Ek. The thought of what they went through in that cave inspired me to work harder and be thankful for the opportunity.
Photos Section
Top row of Wild Boars (L–R): Night (16), Nick (15), Note (14), Mix (13), Tern (14), Pong (13).
Bottom row of Wild Boars: Coach Ek (25), Tee (16), Adul (14), Titan (11), Mark (13), Biw (14), Dom (14). LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The Moo Pa (Wild Boars) football club logo.
Local folklore tells of a vengeful spirit haunting the Mountain of the Sleeping Lady in Thailand’s Mae Sai district. LIAM COCHRANE
Governor Narongsak Osottanakorn arrived at Tham Luang the night of the boys’ disappearance and became the commander of the search-and-rescue effort, often wearing the blue cap and yellow neckerchief of the volunteers. SAKCHAI LALIT/AAP
The Tham Luang area is pocked with caves, including Tham Lak, named after local caver Lak (Kamol Kunngamkwamdee). VERNON UNSWORTH
The boys and Coach Ek left their bicycles at the entrance of Tham Luang when they went in for what they thought would be an hour or so of fun adventuring. APICHAT WONGNGOEN
Birds nest collectors from the southern island of Libong joined the search, abseiling down shafts in the mountain, hoping to find an alternative way into the cave system. RUNGROJ YONGRIT/EPA/AAP
Thai-American Thanet Natisri happened to be back in his homeland when the search began and volunteered to help efforts to pump water from the flooded cave system and from underground aquifers. THANET NATISRI
Pae (Ruengrit Changkwanyuen) gets a briefing from the military, before he begins helping the Thai Navy SEALs with specialist cave-diving skills. PICHAMON CHANGKWANYUEN
John Volanthen was one of the two British divers who led the rescue operation. He’s wearing all his gear so nothing gets misplaced in between dives. LINH PHAM/GETTY IMAGES
The soccer team entered the cave just days before the danger period began, as described in a warning sign outside Tham Luang. LINH PHAM/GETTY IMAGES
Giant eighteen-metre-long ‘dragon pumps’ were used to try to drain the cave. SAKCHAI LALIT/AAP
Drilling rods were carried by hand up the mountain, to try to bore an access hole into the cave below. SUTTISAK SORALUMP
Engineer Suttisak Soralump, about to be lowered from a military helicopter onto the side of the mountain to start drilling. SUTTISAK SORALUMP
Just minutes after drilling into the cave site started, a dramatic development meant that the operation was called off. SUTTISAK SORALUMP
British caver Vernon Unsworth played a crucial role in helping searchers understand the geography of the cave. On the right sits Sak (Adisak Wongsukchan), the father of fourteen-year-old Biw, one of the boys trapped inside. ADISAK WONGSUKCHAN
Thai authorities and volunteers tried to pump the water from the cave, but the heavy monsoon rains soon flooded the entrance. NEWSCOM/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
This photo became emblematic of the international cooperation and strength in unity demonstrated throughout the rescue effort. THAI NAVY SEALS FACEBOOK PAGE/AAP
Thai General Buncha Duriyaphan shakes hands with Major Charles Hodges, the commander of the American forces deployed to the cave. BARNEY LOW/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
‘Empowering the wiseguys’ – Suttisak Soralump explains the drilling challenge to engineers from oil companies PTT and Chevron. SUTTISAK SORALUMP
Revered monk Kruba Boonchum visited the cave twice, giving hope to parents and adding a mystical element to the cave drama. LINH PHAM/GETTY IMAGES
Australian Federal Police diver Senior Constable Justin Bateman, following the guide line into a flooded section of the cave. AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE
Members of the Australian Federal Police Special Response Group walk towards the entrance of the cave. AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE
More than 600 media workers from 198 different organisations descended on the cave site, as the world became gripped by the question of whether the soccer team would survive. LINH PHAM/GETTY IMAGES
The author reporting outside Tham Luang during the search. The heavy rain caused the entire staging area to become a sea of mud. SUPATTRA VIMONSUKNOPPARAT
AFP First Constable Matthew Fitzgerald wearing a full-face mask. AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE
Parents of the boys kept a vigil throughout the ordeal, praying for the safe return of their sons. LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
‘Brilliant!’ The moment the Wild Boars were found after ten days without food. THAM LUANG RESCUE OPERATION CENTRE/AAP
British diver Rick Stanton (right) and John Volanthen (in glasses) rehearse the rescue with volunteer children at a local school swimming pool. THAI NAVY SEALS FACEBOOK PAGE
The rescue in progress: a heavily sedated boy is carried through the cave by an international team of divers and rescue workers. SAKCHAI LALIT/AAP
Australian anaesthetist Dr Richard ‘Harry’ Harris (right) and his dive buddy Craig Challen played a critical role in the rescue. DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS/AAP
Members of the Australian Federal Police Special Response Group and the Peaceland Foundation Beijing worked together to carry the boys out. PEACELAND FOUNDATION BEIJING
Soldiers and volunteers worked to the point of exhaustion, sometimes sleeping inside the cave in between shifts. KAMOL KUNNGAMKWAMDEE
Dr Pak Loharachun and three Thai Navy SEALs spent days inside the cave on the muddy ledge. They were prepared to wait out the monsoon with the Wild Boars. ROYAL THAI NAVY/AAP
Thousands of volunteers arrived at Tham Luang to cook food and assist with the logistics of the rescue effort, producing 20,000 meals a day. ABC/BRANT CUMMING
The Euro team: Back row (L–R) Erik Brown, Claus Rasmussen, Kittinun Suwanpunyakul, Vsevolod Korobov, Pae (Ruengrit Changkwanyuen), Maksym Polejaka, Ben Reymenants. Front row (L–R) Bruce Konefe, Porasu Komalatas, Ivan Karadzic. NARINTHORN NA BANGCHANG
Divers and rescue workers from around the world pulled off a rescue that united the world in joy. DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The thirteen Wild Boars spent ten days in a special quarantine ward at a Chiang Rai hospital, as they recovered from the ordeal. THAILAND GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN BUREAU/AAP
Mae Sai district chief Somsak Kanakham (right) presents an ID card to Coach Ek (Ekapol Chantawong), who was previously stateless. CHIANG RAI PUBLIC RELATIONS/AAP
Mark in the Tham Luang reconstruction in a Bangkok shopping mall. RUNGROJ YONGRIT/EPA/AAP
After their rescue, the boys attended many public functions – some more enjoyable than others. RUNGROJ YONGRIT/EPA/AAP
The boys ordained as novice monks to show their gratitude for the sacrifice of others. SAKCHAI LALIT/AAP
Former Navy SEAL and champion athlete Saman Gunan tragically died while helping with the rescue. ABC/BRANT CUMMING
About the Author
LIAM COCHRANE is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Southeast Asia correspondent, based in Bangkok. He spent more than two weeks in Mae Sai covering the cave rescue, one of those weeks stationed outside the cave entrance in the mud. Liam began his career in journalism in Cambodia in 2004, as a reporter, then managing editor of the Phnom Penh Post. He freelanced in Nepal for two years and returned to Melbourne to host Connect Asia on ABC Radio Australia. Before Bangkok, he was posted to Port Moresby, considered the ABC’s toughest correspondent position. He was the only foreign reporter on Manus Island when Australia’s asylum seeker detention centre was attacked in 2014.
Copyright
The ABC ‘Wave’ device is a trademark of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation a
nd is used under licence by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia.
First published in Australia in 2018
by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Liam Cochrane 2018
The right of Liam Cochrane to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
HarperCollinsPublishers
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ISBN: 978 0 7333 4013 0 (paperback)
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Cover design by HarperCollins Design Studio
Cover image: EYEPRESS NEWS / EYEPRESS / AFP
Back cover image: Newscom / Alamy Stock Photo
Maps by Alex Hotchin
1 Natthawut Thakhamsai’s nickname is actually spelled by Thais as ‘Tle’. Many Thai words that are translated into English as having an ‘l’ at or near the end of the word are pronounced ‘n’ – apple becomes apen. While some sources have transliterated the nickname as ‘Dun’ or ‘Tun’ – I think ‘Tern’ is the closest pronunciation.
The Cave Page 25