The British diver who helped save the Thai boys from the cave has opened up about the dangerous operation.
With a team of over 150 people, it was described as one of the most difficult and dangerous of operations which even had professional divers ‘scared’.
‘It’s one of the most difficult and dangerous and risky things I’ve ever done,’ British cave diver Jason Mallinson told ABC TV’s Four Corners.
Jason Mallinson (pictured) was one of the rescue divers assigned to rescuing the boys
Divers are seen rescuing the Thai boys who were lost in the cave (pictured)
Mr Mallinson was worried about the safety of the boys and their coach, as he was tasked with getting the boys through rough conditions in the cave.
Despite his heroic actions, he said he doesn’t know if he could do it again.
US Mission Commander Major Charles Hodges said he expected ‘three, four, possibly five’ of the boys would die given the circumstances they were in.
The rescue operation was split into nine sections and each pass through the cavern took divers more than three hours to complete.
Divers head toward a cave complex in northern Thailand on July 3, 2018, where 12 boys and their soccer coach who were found alive
Adelaide anaesthetist Dr Richard ‘Harry’ Harris and his dive partner – retired Perth vet Craig Challen – were among an international team of cave-diving experts who freed 12 Thai boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave.
They arrived on July 5, three days after the boys were found and Mr Challen said when he and Dr Harris arrived at the cave they thought ‘we were there to do recoveries, so the actual outcome was unbelievably good’.
‘It was absolutely life and death. We didn’t expect to be getting 13 people out of there alive,’ he Mr Challen told News Corp on his return to Australia.
He said the diving wasn’t the difficult part of the rescue, but the age of the boys was.
‘(The) fact that you have got a living, breathing little tiny person that you are in charge of and you are very limited as to what you can do to help them…it was taxing.’
Some of the boys had to be carried on harnesses due to the unknown circumstances of the cave
Rescue workers await orders at the Tham Luang cave area (pictured) before going to rescue the boys
He said the boys were sedated to keep them calm.
‘We could not have panicking kids in there, they would have killed themselves and possibly killed the rescuer as well.’
Dr Harris was assigned in assessing the children during their exit from the cave. He kept them calm and hopeful of being free.
The divers were each given one boy to look after so if anything were to happen, then one of them would always be holding on.
During the operation, some of the boys had to have their scuba diving costume removed, while others were carried through on harnesses due to the unknown conditions of the cave.