Thai cave rescue: how young coach kept 12 boys calm and safe

Ekaphol Chanthawong, 25, hailed as hero
despite initial criticism for leading group into danger

One-Minute Read

The last four of the young footballers and their 25-year-old
Wild Boars team coach were carried out of the Tham Luang cave system on
Tuesday, on the third and final day of what has been lauded as the
“largest, most complex cave rescue in history”, Sky News says.

Particular praise has been heaped on the heroic actions of the
coach, 25-year-old Ekapol Chanthawong, who initially faced
intense media scrutiny for leading the boys on their almost fatal
excursion. 

“As the man who placed his 12 young charges in mortal danger by
taking them deep into a mountain cave system, the young coach of
the Wild Boars football team could easily have been cast as the
villain of one of the greatest rescue stories of recent times,”
The Daily Telegraph says.

Instead, Chanthawong’s selfless behaviour while trapped in the
caves, in the northern province of Chiang Rai, has seen
him “being hailed by relatives of the boys as the quiet hero
of an adventure that so nearly ended in tragedy”, the newspaper
reports.

When the boys were first found sitting in the dark more than a
week ago by two British divers, they were meditating – something
Chanthawong is well schooled in, thanks to his training as a
Buddhist monk.

Chanthawong went to live in a monastery at the age of 12
after being orphaned, Vox reports. He trained to be a monk for ten
years, but left to care for a sick grandmother.

According to the news site, he taught the team to meditate while
in the cave on order to keep them calm and preserve their energy
during their two-week ordeal.

He is also understood to have given the boys his, extremely
limited, food rations.

Business Insider says that his care of the
children is a “key reason” the boys’ parents may not press
charges.

“At first, he got lots of blame,” Chatnarin Bumpenwattana, an
associate lawyer at JTJB International Lawyers, told the site.
“But the news appeared that he properly took care of the children
and that he gave his food to the children, so there is not much
anger against him right now.”