--- title: The 18-Day Dangerous Rescue Mission that Saved the 12 Thai Soccer Players and Their Coach Trapped in a Cave | TIME description: The 18-Day Dangerous Rescue Mission that Saved the 12 Thai Soccer Players and Their Coach Trapped in a Cave canonical: https://time.com/video/U8iRaHYe/ og:title: The 18-Day Dangerous Rescue Mission that Saved the 12 Thai Soccer Players and Their Coach Trapped in a Cave og:description: The 18-Day Dangerous Rescue Mission that Saved the 12 Thai Soccer Players and Their Coach Trapped in a Cave og:url: https://time.com/video/U8iRaHYe/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/U8iRaHYe/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The 18-Day Dangerous Rescue Mission that Saved the 12 Thai Soccer Players and Their Coach Trapped in a Cave twitter:description: The 18-Day Dangerous Rescue Mission that Saved the 12 Thai Soccer Players and Their Coach Trapped in a Cave twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/U8iRaHYe/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # The 18-Day Dangerous Rescue Mission that Saved the 12 Thai Soccer Players and Their Coach Trapped in a Cave > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: The 18-Day Dangerous Rescue Mission that Saved the 12 Thai Soccer Players and Their Coach Trapped in a Cave [Watch (HLS stream): The 18-Day Dangerous Rescue Mission that Saved the 12 Thai Soccer Players and Their Coach Trapped in a Cave](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/U8iRaHYe.m3u8) (3:00)  _Published 2018-07-13. The 18-Day Dangerous Rescue Mission that Saved the 12 Thai Soccer Players and Their Coach Trapped in a Cave_ --- Jul 28, 2023 4:19 AM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Thai Soccer Team Marks Anniversary of Cave Ordeal with a Buddhist Ceremony](/video/i7j7xhFc/) ### Thai Soccer Team Marks Anniversary of Cave Ordeal with a Buddhist Ceremony [Thai Soccer Players Wave in First Hospital Footage Since Dramatic Cave Rescue](/video/GOqaSM7B/) ### Thai Soccer Players Wave in First Hospital Footage Since Dramatic Cave Rescue [Father of Australian Doctor Who Helped Rescue Trapped Thai Soccer Team Dies](/video/oXZjCrof/) ### Father of Australian Doctor Who Helped Rescue Trapped Thai Soccer Team Dies --- ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] All 12 boys an there coach trapped in a cave in Thailand have been saved. But the mission to rescue them was extremely challenging . >> We did something nobody though possible They had been tracked in the dack [ UNKNOWN ] cave with no food or human contact for nine days [ UNKNOWN ] How many of you? 13. 13. Yes, 13. Brilliant. When divers first found them they were very weak, over the next week the boys were given energy gels for strength and began some basic diving lessons. Divers said the boys couldn't even swim The path to get out is several miles long and requires being underwater for hours. That's hard even for very experienced divers and there was concern that the boys might panic. Some of the passageways were so narrow that divers had to remove equipment to fit through. The danger of the mission was made very clear just a day before it began when a former Thai Navy SEAL died from lack of oxygen inside the tunnels. [ MUSIC ] Despite the tragedy, authorities decided that they had to go ahead. Monsoon rains could worsen the flooding and oxygen levels in the cave were getting About 90 divers took part in the rescue mission. Most challenging was getting the team through a series of mostly submerged, jagged tunnels, to a Thai Navy Seal Command Center. Each boy was fitted with a full face mask and tethered to an expert diver or buddy. The rescue was carried out in three phases. Four boys the first day, four boys the next, and on Tuesday, the last four boys and their coach, followed by the Seals and a doctor who had stayed with them. The boys are all members of a soccer team called the Wild Boars, between the ages of 11 and 16. They went to the cave after soccer practice with their assistant coach, Ekkapol Chantawong, who's 25, on June 23rd. It wasn't raining when they went in, but a few hours later, a flash flood had completely blocked their exist and forced them to retreat further inside. The initial search had been difficult. Authorities started pumping out water the day after the group disappeared. But it took days for them to start making progress. More than half a dozen foreign governments helped. And over a thousand people were involved. Hundreds of local Thai people volunteered at the site, cooking, cleaning, even giving rescuers massages and hair cut. We are glad, we are so happy that all 13 wild Boars have left. Today we are giving away apples, giving away everything, food, water, everything. The whole search and rescue took 18 days. Given the extreme nature of the ordeal, it's a feat that they all made it out alive The boys are now recovering well in hospital. 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