On Saturday, June 23, 2018, in Northern Thailand, members of the Wild Boar soccer team (ages 11-16) and their coach went to explore the Tham Luang Nang Non Cave. It would be nearly 3 weeks before they emerged again! Early monsoon flooding trapped the group of thirteen over 1.5 miles inside the cave with no escape because the labyrinth of narrow passageways was completely underwater. There simply was no way for them to get out. They had no food and were running out of oxygen. It seemed hopeless.
Over the next few weeks, some 10,000 people including 2000 soldiers, 200 divers, and volunteers from around the world worked to bring them out safely. The true story of this rescue operation can be seen in the Ron Howard movie “Thirteen Lives” and if you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend it because it’s absolutely riveting!
Yesterday Michelle and I drove to the cave where this took place, since it’s less than an hour from where we’re staying in Chiang Rai. Part of what we love about traveling is getting to actually see places we’ve only ever read or heard about in books, movies or on the news. Here are a few pictures of what we saw…
