Thailand Cave Rescue: Rescuer recounts experience, mourns Thai ex-Navy Seal who died

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03:06

Doctors in the Northern Thai city of Chiang Rai say the 12 boys and their football coach, rescued from a cave in which they'd been trapped, may be allowed to go home on Thursday the 19th. And as the boys recover in hospital, more details have emerged about the rescue operation that gripped the world, as Tony Cheng reports.

The 12 boys of the Wild boars football team and their coach safe in their hospital beds. Despite minor ailments, all miraculously appear to be relatively unscathed by their ordeal. And all were keen to thank everyone who helped in their rescue.

"TITON" CHANINT WIBOONRUNGRUENG WILD BOARS SOCCER TEAM MEMBER "I would like to thank all the Navy SEALs who came in to help us and thank everyone for their moral support until today."

Tim Acton was one of those divers. A commercial diver who lives in Bangkok, he'd been called by a friend to come and join the group of ex-navy seals. Titon was one of the last to come out and his escape touched a nerve.

TIM ACTON DIVER "When he came out, and he was on an oxygen mask and as he was going through the line, and this was one thing that hit me, because he's only 11 and my daughters only 10. I saw his cheeks go past, and he reminded me of my daughter, and that brought a tear to my eye."

But the divers had maintained their professionalism throughout. The hardest time was when former Navy diver Saman Gunam died carrying oxygen tanks to the rescue teams. Tim was part of Saman's dive crew.

TIM ACTON DIVER "You could feel it within the team, you could feel the energy, but they were really professional people and they were there to do a job, and they got on and did the job. And it was discussed. Obviously, they'd all trained together, they were all good friends. I feel like I got to know him, he was talked about a lot and he was very well respected."

The physical challenges the rescuers faced were enormous. A little further down the mountain range, there is another opening to the cave system, well above ground, so flooding isn't a problem, but danger lurks around every corner.

TONY CHENG THAM LUANG CAVES, THAILAND "One of the other astonishing things about these caves is it's not only steep climbs but also deep crevices, I'm just looking down here, deep into this hole that descends as far as my torch can shine, and appears to go much deeper than that."

But as the rescue continued, the operation got faster and more efficient, despite the multiple things that could have gone wrong. By early evening on Tuesday, the rescue team had pulled off the most complex cave rescue in history. A testament to the professionalism and skill of all those involved.

TIM ACTON DIVER "It's just all came together. I mean in Thailand they're very spiritual people and a lot of Thais believe there was someone watching over, looking over the whole mission and making sure it worked."

Tony Cheng, CGTN, at the Tham Luang caves in Northern Thailand.