The joy and gratitude can not be withheld by Banphot Konkum. His 13-year-old son Duangpetch Promthep, called Dom, is one of the Thai football team rescued by military divers from a flooded cave.

"I'm going to tell Dom that he has to thank all the people in Thailand and all the people from all over the world who were kind enough to help him," Banphot said. "Without the Navy Seals, the officials, and everyone who helped, Dom would not be here today, he could not be with his grandmother, and she would never have seen his face again, so he'll have to be a good person from now on."

In the video: animation shows reconstruction of the rescue

Video

REUTERS

The entire team is currently still in hospital, but with the exception of mild infections are all well and were already allowed to receive visitors. They told their parents how it came to the enclosure on June 23 (read here a text about the drama in the cave and the show about it). The football team was planning to take a short excursion after a game as monsoon rains set in.

"They only wanted to stay in the cave for an hour, but when they wanted to go, the water rose, so they went deeper in to save themselves from the water, and the current was very strong," Banphot said. The lesson became 17 days.

The mother of eleven-year-old youngster Chanin Wiboonrungruang told the Bangkok Post that her son had explicitly advised the team not to bring food, as it was only a short trip anyway. "After three nights without food, my son became so hungry that he started crying," she said. "The only thing they had was water dripping from a rock, it was very cold and pitch dark at night, and it had to be close to each other."

"Something comparable has never been done"

The British divers, who had found the team, also spoke publicly for the first time. "Something similar has never been done," said Rick Stanton at a press conference in London after his return from Thailand. He was "naturally very excited and relieved" that the boys were still alive.

MIRROR ONLINE

Map Thailand cave flooding

"When we counted them for the first time, we came in at 13. That was just amazing," Stanton said. "And they looked healthy, of course, the only thing we thought of was how we should get them out of it, so insecurity also mixed in with relief."

The Thai government had asked the British Cave Rescue Council for help when the crew disappeared. The divers set out from London on 26 June with special equipment. On July 2, nine days after the martyrdom began, they found the boys. Until the successful salvage of all missing persons passed another eight days.

In addition to the British experts involved in the rescue, including the Australian physician Richard Harris and the Thai Navy Seals. In honor of the diver Saman Kunan, who was killed in bringing compressed air bottles into the cave, the rescued will go to a Buddhist monastery in Thai tradition and live there for a short time as monks. "We are looking for a suitable date and will do it once all the families are ready," Banphot said.