Thai boys were passed “sleeping” through cave, says rescue diver

This handout photo taken by the Royal Thai Navy late on July 10, 2018 shows the last four Thai Navy SEALs giving a thumbs up after exiting safely from the Tham Luang cave in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province following the rescue of the remaining four boys and their coach.
Thailand celebrated the successful mission to free 12 boys and their football coach from a cave on July 11, with the nation heaping praise on the rescue team as the triumphant tagline “Hooyah” pinballed across social media. / AFP PHOTO / ROYAL THAI NAVY / Handout /

 

CHIANG RAI, Thailand (AFP) — The boys rescued from a Thai cave were passed “sleeping” on stretchers through the treacherous pathways, a former Thai Navy SEAL who was the last diver to leave the Tham Luang complex told AFP Wednesday.

The details of the complex operation are among the first to emerge from a rescue effort to save 12 boys and their football coach that has been shrouded in secrecy since it began on Sunday and ended successfully three days later.

“Some of them were asleep, some of them were wiggling their fingers… (as if) groggy, but they were breathing,” Commander Chaiyananta Peeranarong said, adding that doctors stationed along the dark corridors of the Tham Luang cave were constantly checking their condition and pulse.

“My job was to transfer them along,” he said, adding the “boys were wrapped up in stretchers already when they were being transferred”.

 

Commander Chaiyananta Peeranarong, a former Thai Navy SEAL who took park in the rescue operation for the 12 boys and their football coach at Tham Luang cave and was the last diver out of the cave, speaks during an interview at Chiang Rai airport on July 11, 2018.
The boys rescued from a Thai cave were passed “sleeping” on stretchers through the treacherous pathways, a former Thai Navy SEAL who was the last diver to leave the cave told AFP on July 11. / AFP PHOTO / TANG CHHIN Sothy

 

Thailand’s junta chief told reporters on Tuesday that the group had been given a “minor tranquiliser” to help calm their nerves.

But he denied they were knocked out for the miraculous rescue.

The lack of information about the meticulously planned rescue had baffled observers given that the team were extracted safely.

The members of the “Wild Boars” team, aged 11-16, had no experience in scuba diving, and the death of an ex-Navy SEAL who had helped install oxygen tanks in preparation for the rescue underscored the dangers of the mission.

Thailand said it had called on 13 “world class” divers to help with the unprecedented job, one of whom was Australian Richard “Harry” Harris, a diver and professional anaesthetist.

Rescue chief Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters on Wednesday that the entire operation would not have been possible without the unique skills that Harris brought to the mission, though he did not elaborate.

The international bid to extract the team garnered attention from around the world after the team found themselves trapped on June 23 when they entered the cave after practice and were blocked by floodwaters.

© Agence France-Presse

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