But if you want to know the Brits entire personal account of the rescue, you can read it in his nail-biting May 2021 book Thirteen Lessons that Saved Thirteen Lives: The Thai Cave.. He isnt happy unless hes swimming around a claustrophobic hellscape and exploring some of the only alien terrain left on Earth. All three survivors would be involved, plus Paakkarinen. Vernon Unsworth helped with the rescue of 12 Thai teenagers from a flooded cave in July. In 2004 he was involved in the rescue of six British cavers who were trapped in a cave at the Alpazat caverns in Mexico for eight days. There was nothing for it but to continue to Steinugleflaget - very slowly. In Diving into the Unknown, we do not see any of the divers collapsing into tears, or talking emotionally about lost friends. As someone who has dedicated a significant portion of his life to cave diving, Richard Rick Stanton continues to keep it up to the best of his abilities while spreading knowledge of the same. Cutting his equipment away, they manage to release the body and negotiate it through the narrow part of the cave. The Coventry, England resident is a former firefighter with 25 years of experience, which he admits helps him in every expedition as well; thus, his aim is to provide insights to others for safer, better adventures. Advertisements. "If we had done a practice run then, things would have been different. "Carbon dioxide absorbs into the bloodstream much faster and easier at depth," says Gronqvist. Equipped with a dry sense of humour and a passing physical resemblance to Hollywood tough guy Vin Diesel, Paakkarinen had been diving longer than any of the others. You may want to read Twitters cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. The Brits behind the Thai cave boys search, In pictures: Thai artists' huge mural of cave rescue heroes, More than 100 police hurt in French May Day protests, Fighter jets are roaring over my home in Sudan, JP Morgan snaps up troubled US bank First Republic. This time the team launched their recovery from Steinugleflaget. The Rescue premiered at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival. Having the bodies would help the families grieve, and would also help to prevent lengthy delays to insurance and inheritance settlements. But it was British cave diver John Volanthen and his partner, Rick Stanton, who were first to reach the stranded team and who played a key role in their ultimate rescue. Stanton was also part of a team that attempted a cave rescue of Eric Establie, in the Dragonnire Gaud Cave near Labastide-de-Virac in the Ardche region of France, in 2010 which was ultimately unsuccessful. Harper, who had just returned from exploring Thai caves with Unsworth, brought two other divers, John Volanthen and Rick Stanton, to help with the rescue. In Wookey hole in the UK, alongside Rick Stanton, John advanced the British cave diving depth record to over 90M. Jill Lawless contributed to this report from London. As was the custom of the group, no-one was in overall command, but the first diver to set off was Patrik Gronqvist, one of a trio of Finns who had discovered the passage between the caves the year before. World-renowned for his rescue and recovery work in caves, Stanton had a feeling he would be asked to travel to Plurdalen to retrieve the bodies - he had done a recovery there in 2006 - and had already started to find out what he could. More importantly, though, Chris works as the Head of Professional Services at Access Group and is an active member of the British Cave Rescue Council to continue his explorations. He was also made a Member of the Order of the British Empire, and then he additionally acquired the Hero of the Year Award at the West Midland Fire Services Aspire Awards in 2021. Eventually he fielded a Skype call from the British cave diver Rick Stanton. In February 2014 two divers died at a depth of more than 100m in a huge cave system in Norway. Is climate change killing Australian wine? We should mention the public speaker is even an Assistant Cub Scout leader who homeschools his son Matthew, is in a relationship with Claire Foster, and genuinely prefers to keep his private life on the down low. The Film Industry Lost Some Titans This Year What Happens Now? You quickly cotton to the fact that some artifice must be involved, and yet not even the films most heart-stopping footage is so over the line that your brain completely disengages from the reality of whats on screen. Rain is slatting down across the entire cave system, causing the water levels to rise with every passing second. The lawsuit explains Unsworths role in the rescue, saying that on June 23, when the soccer players became trapped, several Thai officials called and asked him to go to the cave as soon as possible. All Rights Reserved. "I don't say that there was no risk to us," says Paakkarinen. And about 90m above the cave's vaulted ceiling lies your exit - a crack in the collapsed side of a hill. Volanthen and his diving partner, Rick Stanton who together held the record for diving the greatest depth in a British cave, 76m offered their services. A separate suit will follow in London, the filing says. Then they spent a day setting up equipment, leaving 50 cylinders of gas along the route and, on the Plura side, an underwater habitat. 2023 BBC. Did this woman die because her genitals were cut? VideoThe secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, LGBT troops take love for Eurovision to front line, Why an Indian comedian is challenging fake news rules. Stanton is on [] So the Norwegian police called off the recovery. The active member of the British Cave Rescue Councils international team has 30+ years of experience, along with national/world records under his belt, making it clear hes perfectly qualified for his job. The whole operation had taken 101 hours of diving time. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Is climate change killing Australian wine? Rantanen later found out that while he had been struggling to pass Huotarinen's body, the diver behind him, Jari Uusimaki, was also running into difficulties. Most populous nation: Should India rejoice or panic? Divernet on March 16, 2022 at 11:55 am Advertisements Scuba Diver chats to cave-diving legend Rick Stanton, and finds out what lured him underground in the first place, the challenges of some of his more epic cave dives, and what it was like to be in the midst of the worlds greatest dive rescue. In 2018. They were Finnish divers who knew one another from explorations they had made of the Ojamo mine, west of Helsinki. Up until the summer of 2018, not many people had heard of Stanton. "If you have to do anything physical - swim harder or faster or anything - that's very dangerous," says Gronqvist. When 12 members of a junior soccer team by the name of Wild Boars and their assistant coach decided to explore the Tham Luang caves on June 23, 2018, they never expected it to become an ordeal. "Musk's influence and wealth cannot convert his lies into truth or protect him from accountability for his wrongdoing in a court of law," Mr Unsworth's US attorney, L Lin Wood, said. The authorities said it was too dangerous to retrieve their bodies, but four friends of the men decided to take the risk - and seven weeks later they descended into the dark and glacial waters. He eventually met up with Gronqvist, but Rantanen's struggle to pass Huotarinen's body had added three hours to his decompression time. From what we can tell, a majority of the rescuees still reside in their native province of Chiang Rai in Thailand, where they continue to devote themselves to the sport as well as their education. Unsworth will not do interviews, Wood said, but the attorney said in a statement that Musks wealth cannot convert his lies into truth or protect him from accountability for his wrongdoing in a court of law., Unsworths British lawyer, Mark Stephens, said that Twibels (Twitter libels) show that falsehoods by the rich and powerful can circulate round the globe to their 22.5 million followers and to the media before the truth can pull its boots on.. Last but not least, the then-25-year-old monk turned coach Eakapol Eak Jantawong has since established his own football training facility called the Eakapol Academy. Best known as the first diver to locate and contact the missing youth Thai soccer team alongside long time diving partner Rick Stanton. 2023 IndieWire Media, LLC. This Article is related to: Film, Reviews and tagged free solo, Reviews, Telluride Film Festival, The Rescue. Interviews with leading film and TV creators about their process and craft. Stanton isnt the only one of his kind, but hes such a rare breed that hes got all of the other expert cave-divers on speed dial. The fifth and final diver, Kai Kankanen, tried unsuccessfully to come to Uusimaki's aid. Read about our approach to external linking. John Volanthen is a world record-holding British cave diver who has been at the forefront of underground rescue and exploration over the last two decades. You never know where they might take you. Did you know that one of the experts that rescued the trapped Thai schoolboys was a hero firefighter and cave diver from Coventry? He never married and has dedicated his life to cave-diving, in which he has become one of the most accomplished people in the world. The following afternoon they went to the local police station. If they asked the Norwegian police for permission, it was certain to be refused. Rebecca Ratcliffe in Bangkok Sun 10 Oct 2021 01.45 EDT In October 2020, Rick Stanton readied his wetsuit, dive harness, cylinders and regulators. Gronqvist is the first to surface, eventually, in Steinugleflaget, where Vesa Rantanen is waiting to greet him. He first started going to Thailand in 2011, where he explored and mapped caves, the documents stated. If the divers found Huotarinen's body impossible to shift, they would have to make the long trip back to Plura, and such a device might well be a life-saver. Several divers told Buzzfeed that he had worked continuously on the rescue. Cave divers the world over need to have remarkable self-command, but Diving into the Unknown can be seen as a study in a character trait beloved of Finns - sisu, grit in the face of adversity. The deeper the dive, the longer the decompression. Mr Unsworth, in orange, provided information for the rescue, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. Then, just 20m or so further on they encounter Jari Huotarinen, exactly as Gronqvist had left him seven weeks earlier. Hypercapnia can be deadly, but even a mild case may cause confusion and disorientation, which in a deep cave is liable to have serious consequences. But on Aug. 28, Musk tweeted about Unsworth once again, writing: You dont think its strange he hasnt sued me? John continues to explore and document underwater caves throughout the world. Thanks to a combination of GoPro video, 87 hours of footage captured by a Thai admirals wife, and brilliant re-creations that were shot with the actual divers in a pitch-black England water tank during COVID and cut into the archival material with surgical precision, the two-week rescue effort seems as if it were staged and storyboarded with this eventual documentary in mind. To view this content choose accept and continue. "It was evident that it was going to be quite a protracted affair, lots of dives, down deep and cold - and that was really beyond our remit," says Stanton. Holding your breath through Vasarhelyi and Chins harrowing climax, its impossible not to think of all the people who might still be alive today if more of us could recognize that obligation when it called. The hero British diver who rescued 12 Thai boys and their football coach from a flooded cave is dating a local nurse, MailOnline can reveal. John was further made a Member of the Order of the British Empire, yet he hasnt let any of these aspects affect his work as a South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team Member or a senior IT consultant at Comparket. The Finnish president awarded Gronqvist the First Class Medal of the White Rose of Finland, after he was nominated by his colleagues in the fire service. The three survivors were all hospitalised with decompression sickness. The following day Gronqvist and Paakkarinen returned to retrieve Jari Uusimaki's body, assisted at depth by another diver, Jani Santala. This article contains content provided by Twitter. It's Me, Margaret' to 'R.M.N. That feat is all the more impressive considering the insanity of the plan that Dr. Richard Harris devises to get the kids out of the cave without drowning. He actually prefers to keep every aspect of his life away from the limelight, so we regrettably dont know much about him apart from the fact he specializes as a rope-access technician in cave diving. "He was pivotal to the entire operation," said British diver Rick Stanton. This is a pocket of air that divers can use during decompression stops, allowing them to get out of the cold water, remove their masks and even eat. Its a portrait of incredible generosity that leaves behind a visceral understanding of where that generosity ends. Stanton says that he and his fellow divers considered it, and decided it was too risky. In all, a team of 27 people descended on Plurdalen on 22 March 2014 - 17 Finns and 10 Norwegians.
