Parents dialog

"I'm so happy and so thankful to see my son again. Thank you so much to everyone that has been praying for us and the boys and helping us; thank you," added the parents, who attend Maesai Grace Church in Thailand's Chiang Rai province.
"Thank you to God who helps us to see our son very soon. We are so happy to hear that our son is out of the cave and to welcome him home. It's the love that God gives to our family. God is great love and there's nothing He can't do," they added.

"Thank you to God. I'm really thankful that they found my son and all 13 are alive," the parents of the boy, who is sponsored through Christian charity Compassion, said, according to The Christian Institute.

Thai rescue: Boys' parents reveal their sons' harrowing ordeal inside cave 

 https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12088892

Banphot Konkum, father of 13-year-old Duangpetch Promthep, told The Associated Press his son — better known by his nickname, Dom — said the team members didn't know rain had started falling after they had entered the cave on June 23. But the rain caused flooding in the cave, blocking them from exiting.

"After an hour when they wanted to leave, the water level was rising. They ran further inside the cave to escape from the water. The water flow was strong," said Banphot.

In their search for a safe haven, the boys were reported to have used their hands to feel the walls for an opening to take them to a higher, safer spot. Searchers later found what they thought were the boys' handprints, giving them confidence the boys were alive and that the searchers were on the right path.

"They, all 13 of them, saw a small passage or a crawl space, so they all dug the hole to get through to another spot, until they found Nen Nom Sao," Banphot said, referring to the sandy slope on which they ended up sheltering. There was nowhere else to go.

Dom's grandmother, Kameay Promthep , said she would tell Dom never to go near the cave or water again because she doesn't want anything to happen to him or for him to cause trouble to others again.

 "I will tell Dom that he has to thank all the Thai people from all over the country and people from all over the world who were kind enough to come and help Dom. Without the (Thai navy) SEALs, the officials, and everyone who came and helped, Dom wouldn't be here today. He would not be seeing his Grandma, and Grandma wouldn't see his face again. From now on, Dom will have to be a good person."

Banphot said all 13 rescued team members will enter the monkhood to pay tribute to Saman Kunan, a former Thai navy SEAL who died while diving to place essential supplies along the rescue route. Becoming a monk at a temple for at least a short period is a way of making merit in Thai Buddhist tradition.

"We are planning the date and will do it whenever all the families are all ready," said Banphot

The mother of the youngest Wild Boar teammate, 11-year old Chanin Wiboonrungruang, told a Bangkok newspaper that her son told her the team did not make a special point of bringing along food since they were only planning a short trek into the cave.

"After the first three nights with no food in the cave, my son felt extreme hunger and cried," Aikhan told the Bangkok Post. "He had to rely only on water dripping from the rock. It was very cold at night and pitch dark. They had to lie huddled together.

She said her son, nicknamed Tun, said the boys' 25-year-old soccer coach Ekapol "Ake" Chanthawong, told them to meditate to ease their hunger and save their energy.

One of the two British divers who found the group said the rescue operation was "completely uncharted, unprecedented territory," and that he had not been certain the boys would be found alive.

"Nothing like this has been done," Rick Stanton said at a news conference Friday at London's Heathrow airport after returning from Thailand.

Recalling the moment on July 2 when he and his diving partner John Volanthen found the boys on their 10th day inside the cave, he said his initial reaction was "of course, excitement, relief that they were still alive."

"As they were coming down the slope we were counting them till we got to 13. Unbelievable," he said. "They looked in good health, but of course when we departed all we could think about was how we were going to get them out. And so there was relief tempered with uncertainty."

The British divers who blazed the trail were praised by Australian doctor-diver Richard Harris, who stayed in the cave for three days to oversee the medical care of the boys while they were waiting to be rescued.

"Rick and John not only found the children and coach alive, but conveyed the gravity of the situation to the rest of the world and thus the rescue started in earnest," he wrote on his Facebook page on Friday, as he was flying home on an Australian air force plane with his countrymen who also worked at the cave. "The 4 Brits then did further supply dives to the soccer players, the coach and the four Thai Navy Seals which allowed them to prepare and sustain themselves for the rescue ultimately."

Thai authorities had contacted the British Cave Rescue Council for help when the boys disappeared. The British divers left London on June 26 with special rescue equipment, including radios designed to work in caves.

An international team of cave divers and Thai navy SEALs extracted the 12 boys and coach in a high-risk, three-day mission that concluded Tuesday.

"None of the tasks were easy," Thai navy SEAL commander Rear Adm. Arpakorn Yookongkaew said Thursday after his men flew back to their base at Sattahip on the Gulf of Thailand.

"We were working on many tasks and we had to plan well. Our troops were taking risks, working in dangerous conditions and risking their lives. Many had to go to hospitals after the dives and many were sick. But we didn't mention it because it could affect morale."

Harris also acknowledged the contribution of the many who were not directly involved with the diving operations, "swarms of men and women" from Thailand and the international community who provided "everything from catering, communications, media and of course the huge teams of workers filling the cave with tonnes and tonnes of equipment to try and lower the water and sustain the diving operations."

"I have never seen anything like it with man battling to control the natural forces of the monsoon waters. Local climbing and rope access workers rigged the dry cave section for that part of the rescue and scoured the bush for more entrances to the cave. Drilling teams attempted to get through nearly a km of rock to the boy's location. And all this time 4 brave Navy Seals sat with the Wild Boars knowing they were in as much danger as the kids."

- AP

The 12 boys who were trapped in a cave in northern Thailand for almost three weeks paid tribute to the Navy SEAL who lost his life during the rescue operation.
Wiping away tears, the boys wrote messages of thanks on a portrait of the former Navy SEAL Saman Kunan, who died July 6 during an operation to deliver oxygen tanks to the trapped teens and their coach.
Kunan, 38, ran out of air while underwater, an official said at the time.
His death came at a pivotal moment in the rescue operation, as teams ramped up their efforts to free the boys ahead of forecast monsoonal rain and dropping oxygen levels in the cave.
Doctors decided last week to ask the boys' relatives to tell them about the death of Kunan, according to the Thai Public Health Ministry's permanent secretary Dr. Jedsada Chokedamrongsook.
A team of psychiatrists was also on hand to monitor their mental health, the doctor said.
The boys, ages 11 to 16, wrote messages of thanks and promised to be "good guys" on a portrait of Kunan.
All the members of the Wild Boars soccer team are in good health and are expected to be discharged from hospital by Thursday, the Health Ministry said in a statement Saturday.
"I understand that everyone is worried and have good wishes for them," Dr. Chokedamrongsook said.
"(We) don't want to blame or accuse anyone (of their ordeal). I want this time to become a period to help or support each other -- to be a beautiful moment for all people across the country," Chokedamrongsook added.
The boys and their 25-year-old coach were freed over three days last week, bringing to an end a complex rescue mission involving hundreds of experts from across the world.
The soccer team became trapped deep inside the Tham Luang cave network during an outing on June 23, after a sudden rush of flood water cut them off.
They were discovered nine days later by two British divers, perched on a small ledge of dry land about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the cave's entrance.

Boys 'just wanted to visit the cave for an hour'

Tanawat Viboonrungruang, the father of the youngest boy, 11-year-old Chanin, told CNN on Friday that his son had just wanted to "visit the cave for an hour."
But after the flash floods, the boys and their coach ran deep inside the cave, where they became trapped.
READ MORE: Who are the Wild Boars soccer team?
Viboonrungruang said his son, nicknamed Titun, had told him their coach, Ekkapol Ake Chantawong, had told the boys to run away from the water and go to higher ground.
Inside the freezing cave, the coach and another boy hugged Titun to keep him warm, said his father.
After more than week trapped in the cold and dark, they finally saw a flash light. The boys came down from a small hill inside the cave and shouted for help.
Parents of the boys have since been advised by doctors not to speak to the press for at least a month, as they recover from the traumatic experience.


Parents of the 12 members of the Thai soccer team who survived a grueling 17-day ordeal inside a cave are finally being allowed to see their children.
Doctors said the parents of the first eight boys who were rescued will be allowed to visit their sons’ bedsides while they remain quarantined.
This means that parents must wear hazmat suits and keep a 6.5-foot (2 meter) distance.
Doctors said the 12 boys and their 25-year-old coach are in a “good condition” but will be staying in bed for now.
Parents of the 12 members of the Thai soccer team who survived a grueling 17-day ordeal inside a cave will finally be allowed to see their children.
Thai media has reported that the parents of the first four boys who were rescued on Sunday will be allowed to visit their sons’ bedsides while they remain quarantined, on condition that they wear hazmat suits and keep a distance of 6.5 feet (2 meters).
Parents of the second group of four boys rescued Monday will also be able to make a bedside visit later today, General of the Public health ministry Thongchai Lertwilairattanapong told reporters.
The remaining team members were rescued Tuesday night after a week-long rescue mission which gripped the world.
Doctors have said the 12 boys and their 25-year-old coach are in a “good condition” but will be staying in bed and in quarantine for now.
The children will remain in hospital for at least a week, and appear to be in good mental and physical health. The first eight boys are able to talk, and most of the boys were eating well.
“We will do our very best to treat the kids and coach and return them to their families in the best condition,” Lertwilairattanapong told reporters. “We will continue keeping you posted.”
Doctors are also continuing to take care of the Thai navy SEALs and doctors that stayed with the kids.