Thai Cave Rescue: Full Story of Heroes and Aftermath

British divers John Volanthen and Rick Stanton found 12 boys and their coach alive deep inside Tham Luang cave on July 2, 2018, a discovery that ended nine days of mounting despair. But the story didn’t end there. Five years later, two of the original rescuers have died, the team’s captain took his own life in the UK at age 17, and the governor who led the operation passed away from cancer in 2023. The full story of who survived, who died, and what happened to the heroes of Tham Luang deserves a closer look.

Boys trapped: 12 · Coach trapped: 1 · Cave location: Tham Luang, Chiang Rai · Trapped duration: 18 days · Rescue year: 2018

The Tham Luang rescue produced several notable deaths across different timeframes: two during or related to the operation itself, and two years or more after the fact.

Four deaths are connected to the Tham Luang operation, spanning from 2018 to 2023.

Which of the 13 Thai boys died?

During the actual rescue operation in 2018, no one died. All 13 members—12 boys aged 11 to 16 and their 25-year-old coach Ekkapol Chantawong—were extracted alive over three days (Business Insider). The survival of everyone despite 18 days underground in flooding conditions with oxygen levels dropping to 15% was widely described as extraordinary.

Duangphet Phromthep’s death

But tragedy struck later. Duangphet Phromthep, the team’s captain who was 13 at the time of the rescue, died by suicide on February 14, 2023, aged 17, in the United Kingdom where he had been studying at a football academy (Wikipedia). He was four months away from his 18th birthday. The news came as a shock to Thailand and the global community that had followed the 2018 rescue. The Wild Boars football club confirmed his death without specifying the cause, though multiple reports cited suicide.

Other survivor updates

Of the remaining 11 boys and the coach, public information about their current status is limited. One survivor, Mongkhon Bunpiam, was identified as stateless during the rescue, lacking Thai citizenship. The boys received medical care at Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital after rescue, with isolation protocols for lung infection checks (Business Insider). Coach Ekkapol Chantawong, who taught the boys meditation techniques to conserve energy during the wait, has kept a low profile since the rescue.

Who was the Irish man involved in the Thai cave rescue?

Irish diver Jim Warny was one of several international cave diving specialists who contributed to the operation. While less publicized than the British and Australian divers, Warny was part of the international team that took part in the extraction phases. The rescue involved divers from Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and China, among other nations (Wikipedia).

Jim Warny’s role

Cave diving in the Tham Luang passages required navigating areas as narrow as 2 feet wide with strong currents, making it among the most challenging underwater rescue operations ever attempted (Business Insider). The divers who entered the cave system worked in rotating shifts, delivering supplies and eventually accompanying the sedated boys through the kilometer-long submerged passages.

Diver contributions

The British team—Rick Stanton, John Volanthen, and others—received the most international attention for locating the group. Australian divers including anaesthetist Dr. Richard Harris played critical roles in the medical aspects of the extraction. Dr. Harris was particularly noted for his willingness to enter the cave first to assess conditions before the boys were brought out (NCBI/PMC). The combined effort involved over 10,000 people overall, including volunteers, military personnel, and medical teams.

Did anyone pass away in the Thai cave rescue?

Yes—two people died during the immediate aftermath of the rescue operation, and two others connected to the event died in subsequent years.

Rescue fatalities

Saman Kunan, a 37-year-old former Thai Navy SEAL, died on July 6, 2018, while delivering oxygen tanks inside the cave. He lost consciousness due to asphyxiation and could not be revived (Wikipedia). Born December 23, 1980, he was posthumously awarded military honors. His death marked the first casualty of the operation and cast a pall over the subsequent days of the rescue.

“We found them safe. But the operation isn’t over.”

— Narongsak Osottanakorn, Chiang Rai Governor

Post-rescue losses

Beirut Pakbara, another Thai Navy SEAL who participated in the diving operation, died in December 2019 from a blood infection he contracted during the rescue effort (Wikipedia). His death illustrated how the physical toll of the operation continued to affect rescuers long after the cameras departed. Then in May 2023, Narongsak Osottanakorn—the governor of Chiang Rai who was public face of the multi-nation coordination and known as the “Wild Boar Governor”—died of cancer at age 58 (7News). His death came roughly four months after Duangphet’s, and close to the fifth anniversary of the original rescue.

The pattern of deaths connected to the Tham Luang rescue—rescuer, post-rescue rescuer death, survivor suicide, and operational leader death within a concentrated period—raises questions about the long-term human cost of the operation.

What is Dr. Richard Harris doing now?

Australian anaesthetist Dr. Richard Harris was instrumental in the medical planning of the extraction, particularly the sedation protocol used for the boys. He was one of the last divers to leave the cave during the operation. In recognition of his contributions, Dr. Harris received the Australian Police Medal (the Pask Award) for his role in the rescue.

Anaesthetist’s role

The extraction required each child to be sedated with ketamine and other medications, then fitted with a full-face diving mask and manually guided through the flooded passages. Research published in the National Center for Biotechnology Information detailed how non-diver children were brought through 1.1 kilometers of submerged cave passages using deep anaesthesia (NCBI/PMC). Dr. Harris’s expertise in diving medicine and cave diving made him uniquely qualified to assess and manage the risks.

Current status

Dr. Harris returned to his anaesthesiology practice in Adelaide, Australia. He has spoken publicly about the experience but has not sought ongoing media attention. The Pask Award, recognizing exceptional service, was a rare honor for a medical professional outside law enforcement.

Did they actually sedate the Thai soccer team?

Yes—sedation was a core part of the extraction strategy, and the medical details have been documented in peer-reviewed literature.

Sedation method

Each boy was given ketamine for sedation, along with atropine to reduce oral secretions, before being fitted with a full-face diving mask. The divers then physically carried each sedated child through the flooded passages, swimming while holding the boy’s body. The passages were so narrow that divers had to remove their own air tanks at points and push them ahead. The sedation kept the children calm and prevented them from panicking in the dark, underwater environment.

Risks involved

The procedure carried obvious risks: administering sedatives to frightened children in a flooded cave, then entrusting their lives to divers navigating strong currents in near-zero visibility. Oxygen levels in parts of the cave had dropped to 15% due to the presence of so many rescue workers, adding hypoxia risk (Business Insider). The medical team had to balance adequate sedation—which could suppress breathing in an already low-oxygen environment—against the risk of a child waking mid-passage.

The peer-reviewed analysis of the medical aspects noted that every child survived the sedation and extraction without apparent neurological damage, a outcome the authors called remarkable given the circumstances.

Timeline of the Tham Luang Rescue

Key dates in the Tham Luang rescue operation span from June 2018 through May 2023.

Confirmed Facts vs. What Remains Unclear

The recovery alone is being called a miracle, given the length of time the team was missing and the harrowing conditions.

— Fortune editors, July 2018

While the rescue itself was celebrated as a triumph, the years that followed have included losses that complicate that narrative.

Related reading: trauma’s effects on survivors · event timeline and key figures

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