RESCUE FROM
THAM LUANG
The unprecedented operation to save 12 boys and their football coach from a flooded cave in Thailand.
DIVE
The boys themselves decided who should leave the cave first.
Scuba gear
Each boy wore a wetsuit, boots, a helmet and a full-face scuba mask.
Even if water got inside the mask, the pressure would expel it.
Stretcher
The boys were carried out in Sked stretchers - flexible plastic cocoons.
Sedation
Each boy was given anti-anxiety medication to stop him from panicking.
Underwater guide ropes
Crucial in zero visibility.
Water pumps
Drained a massive amount of water from the cave system, helping cut a 5-hour journey to 3 hours.
Without the pumps, divers would not even have been able to enter the flooded passageways.
Draining water created pockets of air for them to surface to breathe.
Choke points
Many small crevices to navigate. The narrowest one is just 38cm wide.
Divers had to remove their scuba tanks to fit through the hole.
It’s been compared to diving through the S-bend of a toilet.
Air tanks
Deposited at 25-metre intervals throughout the flooded tunnels.
"Jammed" with 80% oxygen instead of regular air.
Volunteer diver Saman Kunan had been helping bring these tanks in when he himself ran out of air.
The boys were strapped on rafts and floated through flooded sections.
Chamber 3
The operational base for rescuers, about 2km from the entrance.
The boys received initial medical treatment here.
Water hoses were used to slide the boys over steep, rocky slopes.
Pulleys
Initially used to take hundreds of air tanks into the cave. Instrumental in transporting the children over steep slopes.
As rescuers celebrated the success of their mission, the main water pump suddenly failed.
They scrambled for their lives.
By the time the last man got out, the water was already at head level.
Day 1 : 0 hours
Day 2 : 0 hours
Day 3 : 0 hours
In all, more than 10,000 people from Thailand and all over the world came together to help in the 17-day search-and-rescue operation.
They include Thai Army, Navy and Air Force personnel, police, medics, diving experts, engineers, geologists, mining experts and volunteers.
Impression of cave complex based on media interviews with divers
trHands trEquip trStretcher trSedate trGuide trPump trChoke trAirtank trFloat trbase trSlide trPulley trPump2 trTime
The boys plan to enter the monkhood to pay tribute to late diver Saman Kunan.
Many of the boys want to be footballers when they grow up, but some have a new dream as well - of being a Navy SEAL.
READ
How the boys ended up in the cave
Relive the rescue
What’s next for the boys
Illustrations: Rafa Estrada
Graphics and Animation: Kenneth Choy
UX and Coding: Calvin Chia
Editors: Dawn Teo, Chung Lyn-Yi
Producers: Elizabeth Khor, Diane Leow