People woke to the news on Wednesday morning that all 12 boys and their soccer coach had been successfully rescued from the cave, all alive and in reasonably good health.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It’s arguably the biggest news story in the world right now, one that has had us riveted and glued to televisions or computer screens waiting for updates.
Seventeen days ago, 12 soccer players and their coach went exploring inside Tham Luang cave.
They became trapped when heavy rainfall blocked their only exits.
Rescuers, divers, officials, police and medical personnel planned their rescue from the watery depths.
Everyone involved in the rescue has been praised and should be praised for a job well done.
Only one life, that of a Thai Navy SEAL who was bringing oxygen to the boys inside the cave, was lost.
Other men involved in the rescue, including numerous Australians, have been hailed as heroes, a term thrown around too loosely these days but one which is so apt here.
People from multiple countries flew to Thailand with little regard for their own safety to help free these boys.
They went hours without food or sleep and plunged themselves into the freezing cold and darkness in the hopes of getting one step closer to freeing the trapped.
The media’s live coverage should also be commended, with multiple outlets providing minute-by-minute updates on the rescue.
What was just as fascinating as photos from inside the cave were the ones taken outside, of divers asleep in the bushes, of other divers sprawled on the ground exhausted.
It was true insight into the effort and determination to get those people out.
And what was also just as interesting to read about was the way the boys were rescued, the conditions their rescuers were subjected to and the conditions the boys and their coach were in for 17 days.
Waterproof containers to transport humans, mini submarines, tunnels only 35cm in diametre, it really is more suited to a Hollywood blockbuster, and perhaps some day it will be.
It was covered in such a way that every viewer or reader couldn’t help but put themselves in the shoes of others and wonder what it would have been like.
Do you think you could have survived?
Related coverage