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It's 7pm on June 27th, 2018. Rick Stanton sits in a Toyota minibus outside Mai Sai Village in Thailand watching the lush jungle and misty hills roll by. It's been five days since 12 boys and their teacher went missing inside the Tam Nguyen cave and still no one knows where they are. Which is why he and his diving partner John Philanthin are here along with the coordinator for the British Cave Rescue Council, Rob Harper.
They're exhausted. The flight to Bangkok was 11 hours, and then another flight to Chiang Rai, and now an hour on a rickety bus. As they snake up the mountain, Rick stares out the window. He can't believe the long line of cars. It's as far as the eye can see. Rick leans forward and asks the driver, "How many people are actually up there?" The driver looks back at him proudly. "Thousands of people from all over Thailand have volunteered to rescue our boys. It's incredible!"
It is actually incredible, but it's also causing an unforeseen side effect: gridlock. Rick turns to John. "You said it was going to be a big operation, but I never imagined this." The van stops at the bottom of the hill. The driver jumps out and opens the back door. "We can't go any farther." Rick looks at John, who shrugs. "Wait, listen, just one more thing."
"Can I get a picture?" In a flash, the driver unfurls a large printed banner in front of the men that reads "World's Best Cave Divers." Rick should feel flattered, but instead, he feels vaguely embarrassed. "I... we... don't normally do that." He's surprised when the driver grabs a quick selfie anyway. As the driver gets back to the bus, Rick asks him, "Where exactly do we go?" The man points vaguely towards a crowd of reporters.
Rick and John pick up their equipment bags and make their way up the hill, their boots gathering mud as they go. It hasn't stopped raining in days. A sea of reporters stand behind a media barricade, faces pressed into their cameras, while across the ocean, newscasters tell the world about the unfolding events. 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. Rick and John pass through a makeshift rescue headquarters set up near the cave. It looks like a mini city. Rescuers, volunteers, locals, all milling about in brightly colored plastic rain ponchos. There's a swarm of pop-up tents and porta-potties, and tons of reporters everywhere. Immediately, a pack surrounds Rick and John.
They try to push through the flashing cameras and microphones, but it's tough. John turns to Rick. This is total chaos. Just then, a man from the crowd calls out to them. Rick! John! Vern Unsworth here. I'm the one who gave your number to the Minister of Tourism. Welcome to the unexpected. He glances at the divers' packs. Looks like you've got a lot of gear. Let's head up to the ranger station. It's not too far. You can set up there.
Rick is confused. But the boys? Shouldn't we head to the cave first? Vern explains that they need to register with the powers that be. They need the approval of the officials to dive. But when they reach the station, Vern can't find an official to register them. To Rick, it seems like no one knows what to do with them. But he and John have nowhere else to go. And there's kids out there. He turns to his partner. Why don't we assemble our equipment? I saw a compressor outside. We can fill up our tanks and get things sorted.
John nods. One way or the other, they're going into that cave and getting those kids out. In our fast-paced, screen-filled world, it can be all too easy to lose that sense of imagination and wonder. If you're looking for new ways to ignite your creativity and open your mind to fresh perspectives, then let Audible be your guide. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, or any genre you love, Audible is the place for you.
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From Wondery, I'm Mike Corey, and this is Against the Odds.
In our last episode, the Wild Boars soccer team went exploring in the Tham Luang cave in Thailand. And they never came out. Within hours, rescue teams from around the country made attempts to find them. But the rain made the cave impassable. Now, the governor has called in the best divers in the world to help. But no one is prepared for what's to come. This is episode two, Chaos. Chaos.
It's day five of the ordeal. Miles deep inside Tom Luong's underwater tunnels, assistant coach Ake is consumed with worry. He and the boys huddle on a small rock shelf above a pool of coffee-colored water that floods the cave's exit. They're in complete darkness. They've been trying to preserve what little battery of life they have left in their flashlights. Shadows dance on the dirt walls behind them. Ake feels as if they are stuck in a land outside of time.
The littlest, Titan, is shaking from the cold. He nuzzles up to Ake and asks him a question he's asked a million times already. "Coach, what day is it?" Ake isn't sure what day it is, but like clockwork, the other boys look to him for answers to their pleas. "Coach, I am so hungry and thirsty." Knight lifts his head off the back wall to speak. "When will they find us?" Hong's voice is raspy, and he can barely be heard. "I am dizzy. It feels hard to breathe."
Coach Ake feels like he's losing control of the group. He knows he has to do something to keep the boys from unraveling. Hey, Wild Boars, I know this is hard, but I need you to stay focused. The rains will subside, and I'm sure help is on the way. Titan starts to cry. Nobody is sure what to believe anymore. I'm scared to die here. Ake pauses on the word die, not on his watch.
You aren't going to die, Titan. Now, sit up, okay? Back straight. Close your eyes and just breathe. Focus your mind. And remember that all pain and suffering is an illusion. Breathe in and out. And in and out. Ake sits in a dignified posture in the middle of the meditating group. He is a former monk trained in Vipassana, a type of meditation focused on the power of mindful breath.
Now, years later, Ake can't help but notice that his years in the monastery have somehow prepared him for this exact moment. He turns to look at the boys, all sitting around him, with their eyes closed. They had meditated together a few times before a game, but never this deeply. They are doing great, Ake is so proud of them. And then, like a miracle, all their heart rates drop, and calmness returns to the cave.
The 12 boys and their coach don't even notice when the flashlight battery shuts down. They are too lost in their breath and allowing their minds to wander to a place, at least for the time being, where they no longer feel hunger, cold, or fear. It's a feeling of peace. It's 1am, June 28th, six days since the 12 boys and their soccer coach have gone missing inside the Tam Nguyen cave.
Major Charles Hodges makes his way through the base camp parking lot through the rain. Mud flows rush past rows of tents, food trucks, and porta-potties. Hodges is a multi-generational military man with the 353rd Special Operations Group of the U.S. Air Force. Just hours earlier, his team had been called from their base in Okinawa, Japan. Thailand and the U.S. have long held military alliances, so it wasn't surprising that he and his unit would be brought in to help.
These special ops are who you call when you need to figure out how to do the impossible. They've been deployed around the world to figure out the most efficient solutions to the most complex and dangerous crises. They have a host of skills, everything from scuba diving to mountain climbing, geology, and surveys. They also specialize in coordination, in other words, making order out of chaos. If someone is stuck in a cave and needs a group to pull together a rescue effort, these are the guys you call.
Major Hodges is used to disorder, but the scene here is even a lot for him. And right now, he's running on fumes. Hodges has sent most of the men to bed while he and a smaller team head out to the cave. He wants to get a look at the site. As he nears the entrance, he almost trips on the fire hoses and electric wires tangling across the muddy ground. There are pump workers and volunteers everywhere, circling around the mouth of the cave.
Hodges notices every detail. It's his job. And he quickly clocks that there doesn't seem to be any cohesion to the work. Just a constant hum of busyness. When he enters the chamber, he notes the damp smell. Not surprising. It's been raining for days. He motions to his team to follow. As he pushes further into the first chamber, he's surprised to see how big it is. Really big. And dark. But Hodges can just make out mud flows on the inside wall.
He turns to his master sergeant, Derek Anderson, his head of operations. Look at those mud stains. Say they go up about 25 feet. I guess we know how high the water can get in here. Anderson is a dark-haired, all-American type with a military physique. He's only 22 years old, but mature beyond his years. He's a sharp Swiss army knife kind of guy and is known for his tactical skills. He runs his hand along the walls. The major is right.
With water this high, it means the river inside this cave still has room to rise and hasn't yet reached its peak. Hodges is used to risky situations, so he continues to follow the muddy river trickling through the cave. He climbs over some rocks and goes a little bit deeper when he hears a Thai worker yell out to him, Get back! The water is rising! Thai seals have said nobody can go in! Get back!
Major Hodges looks at Anderson, who shrugs. It doesn't look so bad. How fast could the water really rise? Hodges waves back politely and continues on. As they continue to advance, it gets harder to see. And then Hodges hears the voices again. Get back! Come back! Water is in the entrance! The voices have a much more urgent tone. Hodges motions to his team. Let's go.
The return passage is only two or three minutes, but Hodges notices the floor is already flooding. A huge swath of ground is covered in almost three inches of water. It's coming fast. As he watches the water continue to rise, he draws two conclusions. One, the water is coming into the cave from several sources at once. And two, the workers are right. Cave conditions can change in an instant. This rescue just got a lot more difficult.
A few hours later, the Thai Navy SEALs announce all diving operations are suspended due to conditions. The next morning, when word reaches John and Rick, they aren't sure if the new order includes them. Not that it matters. They're going into that cave. They put on their mud boots, grab their gear, and make their way to the entrance. This won't be their first trip in. They did a recon mission the night before, shortly after their arrival. They knew it would be challenging, but they were surprised at how quickly the water was rising.
The coordinator from the British cave rescue team got pulled in by the current and they had to help him out. The cave was proving to be an unpredictable beast. But the divers didn't fly halfway across the world to sit around waiting for the rain to stop. They're here to save the kids and they intend to politely disregard the no diving order. When they get to the cave, the guard doesn't challenge them. For once, their celebrity status seems to be coming in handy.
They follow a line of rubber-coated cables into the depths. When they reach the first flooded sump, Rick notes the water level is inches higher than it was just the day before. The men find a clear area and they lay out their equipment.
To maintain buoyancy, most divers use an expensive inflatable vest that runs hundreds of dollars. But Rick prefers his homemade gear, an old car inner tube with patches all over it. It doesn't look like something a pro would use. John teases him. You look like a cockwomble. Rick rolls his eyes. He's not here to win a best-looking dive kit contest. It does the job. Rick straps on his air tanks and wades slowly into the dark, cold water in chamber three of the Tam Luang.
The surface undulates with the reflection of makeshift LED lights. John follows shortly behind, as they line up for their in tandem diving formation. Long pumping tubes and wires lead into the water, put in by the workers. These live wires run throughout the cave, and they're miles long. It's not a comforting sight for Rick. With all this electrical equipment, the risk of electrocution is high. Then there's the stray water bottles, garbage, and other debris floating in the water.
Rick knows that kind of debris could easily get ensnared in his fragile dive equipment, and that could be deadly. This dive isn't going to be easy. Their goal is to reach the T-junction. Beyond that is Pattaya Cave, the furthest anyone has managed so far. But that was before all of this rain. Now the water is almost up to the ceiling of the cave. The air pocket on top is afoot at most.
Rick ducks under. This part is familiar to him. He lives in these magical dark mazes, with little visibility and sharp rocks appearing out of nowhere. But the ripping currents here? They're intense. Floodwaters flush towards him, as if he were on the wrong side of a sewage pipe. Random debris is blocking his mask, making it impossible to see the deadly nooks and crannies. It's taking every bit of energy to stay on a linear line through the cave.
After 30 minutes of slowly battling the currents, Rick squeezes through a sliver in a rock wall into chamber 3. He pulls up into an air pocket. It's a momentary relief from the pulsing tide. He lifts off his mask and turns toward a shelf of rock. It looks like the shore of a small pond made from ancient stone. But then he sees something he was not expecting. About 20 feet across from him are four Thai pump workers, stranded and frightened.
They wave their arms, wildly motioning to the water below. "Help! Help us! Help us!" Rick can't believe what he's seeing. No one is supposed to be here. He looks at John, and then removes the mouthpiece of his rebreather and speaks calmly to the scared men. "What are you doing here?" But the men don't speak English. Rick's mind races. "How could this happen?" He looks around the chamber and realizes the men got stuck here as the water rose, and by the look of them,
They have been here a while. Rick, look. John points to an opening towards the roof of the cave where the water is rushing in. Rick scans back to the rescue workers with his flashlight. Their eyes look at him in terror. John, we need to snatch and grab. Now, or they're all going to drown. We'll need to take them, one at a time. Okay, let's do it then.
Rick uses sign language to explain what needs to happen next. He holds out a secondary mouthpiece connected to the tank on his back and mimes moving it back and forth from his mouth to the workers. Rick then demonstrates how if the man swims close, they can both swim out together using the same air tank. The workers nod nervously. It's the only option. If they stay, they're dead. Rick grabs one of the men. "Don't panic.
then the two dip quickly into the freezing flood water. Rick grabs onto the man's work shirt and they begin the short but challenging swim through the sump towards chamber two. Rick swims with one hand while dragging the worker in the other. The man takes air through the rebreather and tries his best to stick with Rick. When they reach chamber two, Rick sees the sparkling surface of the next air pocket. The worker sees it too and begins to kick, struggling to reach air.
Rick feels the man tugging on the mouthpiece, pushing away from him. Panic is the most dangerous reaction rescuers can face. The brain stops working and the body takes over in a fight to survive. The victim could pull off the mouthpiece or damage the fragile equipment and then both of them could die. In a flash, Rick grabs the man's neck to signal, don't move. They begin to wrestle in the dark waters. The man's panic takes over. Rick puts him in a headlock.
Finally, they break through the surface. John emerges shortly after. Rick can tell from his face he experienced the same thing. Rick motions back towards chamber three. Two down, two to go. This is crazy. What are these guys doing in here? People are gonna get killed. Hours later, Rick comes out of the cave, tired and defeated. The crowds have thinned to just a few people. No one seems to be bothered that four workers had almost died.
Even the workers themselves seem to take it in stride as they thank Rick and John and walk away. Rick isn't expecting a parade or anything, but it feels odd the event is hardly noticed by anyone. But there is one man who pays attention when he gets word of the rescue. General Hodges of the American Special Forces. Hodges knows if they find the boys, they'll need men with experience to pull them out.
Rick Stanton and John Volenthen have just proven their reputation as two of the best cave divers in the world. Now, they just have to find the kids. It's 9 p.m., June 28th, five days since the Wild Boar soccer team and their coach went missing. Governor Naronsak sits at a folding table inside the ranger station, not too far from the cave.
He is responsible for this small province and he's been working non-stop for days. Now he finds himself bleary-eyed, milling through complicated geological maps and plans. Although there are thousands of Thai soldiers scouring the hills for other ways into the cave, there is still no proof the boys are even alive.
There are emergency workers setting up makeshift hospitals. More than a dozen ambulances stand on alert in case the boys come out and need medical attention. Hundreds of soldiers from the Thai army are trying to chip their way into the cave from above with just hammers and chisels for tools. The Thai king has even sent his personal kitchen staff and food trucks to help feed the rescuers.
The governor is glad that the American special forces have arrived, but part of him also worries that they'll just be another cook in an already crowded kitchen. He'll have to keep an eye on them, along with the rest of the growing contingent of international help arriving every day. The pressure on the governor is enormous. The Thai government regularly calls for updates. They want to know what progress is being made. They need a win. It's good for Thailand.
The governor never expected to be in charge of an operation of this size and importance. He's only been doing this job for a year. This search is quickly becoming one of the largest and most complicated in history, and he's managing it all. And still, they feel no closer to finding the boys than they were on day two. The governor is desperate, willing to entertain any and all ideas, which is why his staff brings in a Thai civilian named Tanit Netsi.
Tanit is 22 years old and he doesn't look like anyone else on site. He's not military. He isn't a foreign diver. He's a quirky Thai national wearing bright red waterproof shoes who spends half the year in Illinois managing a Thai restaurant. The other half of the year, he works with the rural Thai communities managing their water resources.
Thanet is a water management guru and the local Thai officials know it. He comes with state-of-the-art maps of the area's topography and some radical ideas. Governor, I need a seismic scanner. We can explode a small device inside the cave and measure the reverberations. It will send out sound waves and we can use it to scan the cave like a sonar.
That way, we can get an exact reading of the cave's shape and size, and look for chambers where the boys might be. The governor has a master's in engineering, and he understands the concept. But he worries it could cause landslides inside the cave, blocking access to the rescuers and endangering the boys. So he nixes it. But he likes Thanet's mind and the logic of his arguments. He wonders if Thanet can help with another problem. The governor leans in.
The rains don't stop and water is flooding the cave. If you have any ideas how to defeat the water, let me know." Tannet's eyes dart around like he's doing equations in his head. "Okay, so right now the ground is saturated. The water table can't take any more. So what if we drain the entire water table around the cave?" The governor pauses. Tannet is essentially suggesting sucking the water out of the mountain thousands of gallons at a time.
It's a long shot, but so is everything else. Take some of my men, get what you need, and report back with what you find." Tenet rushes out the door. He has work to do. The governor watches him go. He doesn't know if Tenet will be able to defeat the water, but maybe he'll be able to slow it down long enough for the rescuers to get through. Verne Unsworth can't believe it's already June 28th. The boys have now been inside the cave without food or water for almost a week.
When will this end? Vern knows the cave better than anyone, and in the last few days he's become sort of an unofficial go-between for the various branches of the rescue.
He begins his mornings meeting with Thai officials. The rest of the day, he meets with teams of volunteer divers who have come from all over the world to help in any way they can. But today, he's on a mission. He wants to get an update from his fellow Englishmen, Rick and John. Ever since the emergency snatch and grab with the pump workers, it's become clear to everyone that a dive rescue of the boys is nearly impossible.
The current is too powerful, the water too high, and now the seals are suffering the effects of too long in the cave. Their hands are mangled from the sharp-edged rocks. Their feet are infected from being submerged in water for hours at a time. Vern's heard rumors the Brits are thinking of heading back. He hopes it's not true. The operation needs them.
When Vern walks into the ranger station, he finds Rick and John talking to Rob Harper. Rob is the coordinator of the British Cave Rescue Council. Vern grabs a seat. I heard about what happened yesterday with the pump workers. Is everything okay? John shakes his head. We can't even get to the T-junction. How will we ever get past it to find the boys? It would be so much easier if the water levels drop. But everyone knows that's not happening. Monsoon season is coming fast. John speaks up.
"Look, this rain isn't going anywhere, and I don't want to wait here for weeks just for confirmation that they're already dead." Rick agrees. "This whole thing is just so disorganized. It doesn't make any sense to stay." Vern knows everything they're saying is right. He's frustrated by the lack of coordination too. But what if there's a break in the rain?
What if someone comes up with an alternate plan? If it involves diving, Rick and John are two of a small handful of people in the world who would be able to get the boys out. Fern tells the men that the tourism minister asked if they could stay just a couple more days. John looks down, considering all sides. He finally says, "Okay, just a few more days." Tanit Natsi, the water guru, drives up a reddish dirt road in a military jeep in the mountains above the cave.
He's a man on a mission. He spent the last few hours rounding up an amazing array of resources to lower the water table in the cave. First, he asks the governor for 300 soldiers from the 37th Military District of the Thai Army. He puts them to work, chopping down trees and clearing areas at the base of the mountain. Then he gets his hands on 30 huge drilling rigs. He wants to drill into the side of the mountain and drain the water from the table, diverting it onto nearby farmland.
It's a bit like pulling the plug in a full bath, except this bath is around half the size of Disney World. But first, he needs to make the holes to pump the water out, hence the drilling race. It's an ambitious idea, but Tannit is optimistic he can pull it off. When he gets to the top of the mountain, he pulls over where the soldiers are cutting down the trees. He watches nervously as his men place drill after drill into the red dirt.
Tanit stares at the ground as the drills start up and are soon pounding away relentlessly. He's going to have to make an educated guess about how far to drill. He's looking for the main line. If he miscalculates, this entire plan will be worthless. And then… jackpot. The drill pierces into the water table and geysers blast ten feet into the air. Tanit closes his eyes and smiles. They did it. He signals for the pump operators to get to work.
By the late afternoon, Tennant and his team are pumping 2 million gallons of water out of the ground every hour. With any luck, it might be just enough to lower the water table inside the cave so the divers can reach the T-junction. Dusk falls in the forest surrounding the cave. Smoke and steam waft through the air, lit up by the artificial glow of halogen lights.
Supaluk is exhausted. Her son Knight has been missing for six days. His birthday has come and gone. She looks at the hollow eyes of the other parents around her. They sit in small plastic chairs and mats on the ground, lost in their own thoughts. They're so worried that they can barely keep down the food the rescue kitchens drop by their sides. Instead, they stare helplessly towards the commotion at the mouth of the cave as they swat away mosquitoes.
But the idea of giving up never crosses any of their minds. Their boys are in there. Supalak knows Knight is alive. He's strong. But they need to do something. If they can't help with the physical rescue, maybe they can help another way. One of the parents begins to gather fruit and candies from the commissary tent. Other parents follow behind her. Supalak hears someone in the crowd ask in a hushed tone, "What are they doing?"
We're going to pray and make offerings to make the mountain less angry. Supaluk and the other parents light candles and walk in single file to an area just outside the camp. The crowds part as the train of parents makes its way past. They are headed to the Chao Mei Nang Nun, a green wooden spirit house with a life-sized statue of a Thai woman in traditional garb. This is the goddess of the mountain, the sleeping princess whose tears are trapping their boys inside the cave.
When they arrive, they place the candles at the princess's feet and arrange an offering of food for the spirits to choose from. Several of the parents ask the goddess to release their sons. Some of the parents lay down next to the shrine, their bodies frail and weak. The press captures it all and releases the photos to papers across the globe. Now the whole world can see the faces of the mothers and fathers who wait, counting each second until their children come home.
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Head over to Symbiotica.com and use code ODDS for 20% off and free shipping on your subscription order. It's a world devoid of sun. Coach Ake can no longer tell if his eyes are open or closed. He waves his arms out in front of him like a blind man, feeling a small shoulder here and a skinny arm there. He's worried about the boy's health, but it's comforting to know they're all still here and breathing. A weak voice pipes up in the damp air. Coach Ake.
You said they would come. You said this would be over soon. Ake has lost the will to respond to every question. Part of him knows that the boys no longer expect him to answer. They're just saying their pleas out loud into a void, like messages in a bottle. Ake hears one of the younger boys murmuring to himself over and over again. We're trapped. When will someone come? Another boy yells out, Coach, coach, maybe they've forgotten about us.
Ake considers leading them in meditation, but then he gets another idea. He crawls over some of the sleeping boys and feels on the ground. He finds a rock. He lifts it, and he hits it against the nearby cave wall. Boys, boys get up. If they aren't going to save us, we are going to save ourselves. Adul, where are you? I'm here, coach. Adul Salman is 14 years old. He's a refugee, just like Coach Ake.
He was taken in by the Grace Church in Maasai, where he's lived for 10 years. He loves music, he sings in church choir and plays guitar, and he loves new adventures. He's always up for something new, which is why Eik thinks he's perfect for this task. Adul, feel around and find some more rocks, and then let's dig as hard as we can against this wall here. If we try, we can maybe create a hole that will lead to another chamber, and then we can go home.
There's confusion among the boys, but he can feel their spirits lift. Do you really think this will work, coach? We have to try, boys. Come on, up, up. Let's go home. As the cave begins to fill with methodical banging against limestone walls, Ake sits back down. He begins to count. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
It's June 30th, day eight of the search. Ben Raymond stares into the frothing black water in chamber six of the Tam Luang cave, getting ready to dive. Ben is a handsome, boyish-looking Belgian with smiling blue eyes and an assured demeanor.
Ben lives in Thailand most of the year. He owns a dive company in the beach town of Phuket. He loves Thailand and its people, and when the word went out that the operation needed experienced local divers, Ben was one of the first to volunteer. Ben is a strong diver, one of the strongest on site, but these are some of the most inhospitable conditions he's ever encountered. The water is incredibly cold, and the current is so strong it can rip the mask right off your face.
On his first dive into the cave, he was trying to lay a guideline for divers to follow, but he didn't make it much further than 400 feet. Between chamber 3 and 4, he had to squeeze through a small passageway barely two feet high, and he got caught in a cross current. He said it felt like climbing Mount Everest. He still has nightmares about it. When he got out, he reported back to the SEALs that the mission was suicidal. The commander nodded, but said the SEALs would keep going in,
Ben knew the seals didn't have the kind of experience needed on these kinds of rescues, so he decided to stay. Now here he is, looking back into the same churning water, praying his luck is better this time. At least the current has slowed a bit and there isn't as much debris in the water. He's also with a diving buddy, Maxim Polejica, a sturdy Ukrainian diver who has a lot of experience. Today, Ben's aim is to lay 400 yards of guideline past an area of the cave called the T-junction.
A guideline is a thin, strong rope that divers unspool as they head into uncharted territory. They act as a roadmap to help future divers navigate through. That's if he can get there. No one has been able to penetrate past the wild, thrashing waters of the T since the seals on day two. Ben takes a breath and then drops into the froth. Once in the water, Ben is instantly thrown around in the swirling currents like a rag doll.
When he starts to paddle in one direction, a crush of muddy water pushes him in the other. It's like being in a spin cycle. As he fights forward, the current pushes him head-on into a dead-end cul-de-sac. His body is pressed against the bottom of a small rock basin. There's no room to maneuver through. Ben knows not to panic, but his heart begins to race. How did this happen so fast? Is he going to die here?
But he's an experienced diver and knows that panic isn't his friend. So he closes his eyes and slows his breath. He tries to grab hold of a rock above his head, but he's wedged in like a canned sardine. That's when he feels a tug on his fin. Maxim is checking in on him to see if he's okay. He's not. In the dive world, if your dive partner tugs on your fin and you're not okay, you go limp.
It's a signal for them to pull you out. And that's what Ben does. He goes limp, and Maxime pulls him free. They meet in an air pocket a few minutes later. Ben is shook, but he still wants to press forward. But Maxime doesn't think they should. He has a traditional dive tank, and it's running out of air. But Ben has a rebreather system, which allows him to recycle his air. He's so close to breaching the T-junction, he can taste it. Maxime nods. He'll wait.
So Ben dives back into the dark waters of chamber 6, alone. He maneuvers into the same area of the cave he was in minutes earlier and dives forward, past the point where he got stuck. Then he pushes through an underwater tunnel, deeper and deeper, until finally he reaches the T-junction, and then he pushes further. He gets almost to Pattaya Beach and lays another hundred yards of rope,
Now, other divers can follow. Ben Remenens has just jump-started the search. Major Charles Hodges is finally able to see his way through the chaos. Hodges has been at the camp now for two days, running his US Special Forces unit, trying to coordinate rescue efforts. He's seen with his own eyes how amazing it is that an entire country has come together to rescue the boys.
He has no doubt of the authentic bravery and honor of all the Thai SEALs and the government rescuers and officials. However, he also sees that there is a need for his team's specific skill set here. Major Hodges knows how to filter out the noise and create workable, razor-sharp action plans. Now that the Belgian diver has pushed past the T-junction with a guide rope, it's time to take action.
Late in the afternoon on June 30th Hodges calls together a group of top-notch experts to meet in a far corner of the camp. He wants to talk to them about forming a shadow planning operation to find the boys and get them out. There's their British dive group including Rick Stanton and John Volenthin, two of the best cave divers on the planet who know firsthand how to get into and out of the cave with bodies on their back.
Vern Unsworth, the foremost Tam Luang cave expert who has tirelessly searched for alternate routes in, and the Thai water guru Thanet Natse, Hodges has come to admire Thanet's work ethic and quirky ideas. And then, of course, his team of special forces.
As everyone settles in, Hodges tries to speak over the roar of the rains outside. "Look, I know some of you are still trying to figure out what we do exactly. Let me tell you. The 353rd identifies problems and then gets all the necessary players together in the same room. We search for solutions using available manpower and equipment. We've all seen the heart the TIE rescue workers have, but no one is coordinating this thing from a bird's eye view.
We don't have time for disorganization. So, let's start looking at different angles and come up with fresh solutions. Gentlemen, we are here to help you do what you do, but efficiently. There is a pause in the tent as the men take in this info. But soon Hodges sees that his outline of the 353rd capabilities is working. Fern talks to Tanit, who shares his info with Sergeant Anderson.
They share topographical maps and charts. They list options for saving the boys and then rank them by risk, from most dangerous to the least, and which are most likely to be met with success. They talk about possible outcomes for each scenario, but most of all, they are talking. The Shadow Team's rescue plan has unofficially begun.
This is episode two of our four-part series, The Thai Cave Rescue. If you like our show, please give us a five-star rating and a review. A quick note about our reenactments. In most cases, we can't know exactly what was said, but all our dramatizations are based on historical research. If you'd like to learn more about The Thai Cave Rescue, we recommend The Boys in the Cave by Matt Gutman and Rising Water by Mark Aronson.
I'm your host, Mike Corey. Tamiya Payne wrote this episode. Davey Gardner is our producer. Our associate producer is Brian White. Our audio engineer is Sergio Enriquez. Sound design was done by Aaron May. Our executive producers are Stephanie Jens, Marshall Louis, and Hernan Lopez. For Wondery. Wondery.
