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People around the world rallied around their TV screens as the 12 Thai school boys and their coach were rescued from Tham Luang cave this week, and now Seven News Chief Reporter Chris Reason –who was working on the forefront of the operation – has exclusively opened up about the tense environment.
Speaking to WHO exclusively, Reason lamented on the skilful team who successfully brought the boys out. “When do you ever get a coalition of countries together and it works like that?”
“It was 18 nations involved in all, Australia being one of them, spearheaded by the British. And not a military contingent sent by Britain, a civilian force of expert, extreme cave-diving sportsmen who are just brilliant at this kind of work. And hanging off them were the rest of the teams including the Royal Thai navy SEAL team working collaboratively. And it did work brilliantly. They planned it, they rehearsed it through those previous days, and they executed it on Sunday to perfection even better than the rehearsals,” he said.
“They were getting more and more proficient and efficient at doing it. And of course, they’ve done it without any major injury or loss of life. This is just the stuff of epic rescue mythology. This is going to be one of the biggest rescues in history. It’s extraordinary.”
First images of the boys in a hospital have been revealed and they appear to be in good spirits.
As reported in WHO this week, Chris said it was expected that the boys would remain in isolation anywhere between 48hours and seven days while they underwent medical tests,
“Sanitary conditions would not have been good,” says Reason.
Regardless, the boys (aged between 11-17) powered through and it appears they had a little help to gain mental strength from coach Ekapol Shantawon, 25, a Buddhist who helped keep them calm during their two weeks in the cave. “He taught them meditation and was using those techniques inside and that was apparently really helping the boys deal with their fears in those conditions.”
So touching.
For more on the Thai Cave Rescue, pick-up a copy of WHO on-sale now!
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