In Pictures: A look back at the Thai cave rescue, one year on

About a year ago, the dangerous and unprecedented rescue mission to save 12 boys and their coach, who got stuck in floodwaters in a cave in northern Thailand on June 23, 2018, captivated the world. The last of the "Wild Boars" - as their team was known - emerged alive nearly three weeks later after specialist divers carefully sedated them before extracting them through the narrow, flooded passageways. Thai authorities are hoping to reopen the cave as a learning centre for the droves of tourists - local and foreign - who now visit.

Updated

Published

Jun 25, 2019, 06:01 PM

Members of the Wild Boars football team prepare flowers for a traditional ceremony to mark the first anniversary of their rescue from the Tham Luang cave in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province on June 24, 2019. PHOTO: AFP

Members of the Wild Boars football team pose at the Tham Luang cave centre as they mark the first anniversary of their rescue from the cave in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province on June 24, 2019. PHOTO: AFP

Members of the Wild Boars football team offer food to monks as they mark the first anniversary of their rescue from the Tham Luang cave in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province on June 24, 2019. PHOTO: AFP

Members of the Wild Boar soccer team, who were rescued from the Tham Luang cave, offer flowers to honour former Thai Navy Seal Officer Saman Kunan, who died in the Tham Luang cave rescue operation. This took place during a religious ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the rescue operation of the soccer team, at a compound near Tham Luang cave in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province on June 24, 2019. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

British cave divers John Volamthen (C-L, in blue) and Richard William Stanton (C-R, in grey) ride in the back of a viehicle during a search and rescue operation near the Tham Luang cave in Tham Luang Khun Nam Nang Noon Forest Park in Chiang Rai province on June 30, 2018. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

A handout photo made available by the Thai Royal Navy shows Thai military personnel inside a cave complex during the rescue operations for the youth soccer team and their assistant coach, at Tham Luang cave in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park, Chiang Rai province on July 7, 2018. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

Thai rescue workers and park officials rest outside the Tham Luang Nang Non cave, as the authorities search for 12 football players and their coach who went missing and believed to be trapped in Tham Luang Nang Non cave at Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province on June 25, 2018. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

An undated handout photo released by Royal Thai Army shows the missing 13 members of a youth soccer team including their coach, moments after they were found inside the cave complex at Tham Luang cave in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park, Chiang Rai province on July 2, 2018. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

A handout photo made available by the Thai government public relations department (PRD) shows the first pictures of the boys from a youth soccer team being treated at a hospital in Chiang Rai province on July 11, 2018, after their rescue from a cave. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

A video grab handout made available by Thai Royal Navy shows some of the members of a trapped soccer team in a section of Tham Luang cave in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park, Chiang Rai province on July 4, 2018. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

This handout picture from diver Ben Reymenants taken during the June-July 2018 rescue of the 12 boys from the "Wild Boars" football team and their coach trapped in the Tham Luang cave shows the rescue efforts in a cave in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province. PHOTO: AFP

In this file handout video grab taken from footage released by the Royal Thai Navy on July 11, 2018, rescue personnel carry a member of the "Wild Boars" football team on a stretcher during the rescue operation inside the Tham Luang cave in the Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province. PHOTO: AFP

In this undated file handout photo released by the Royal Thai Navy on July 11, 2018, one of the members of the "Wild Boars" football team is carried on a stretcher during the rescue operation in the Tham Luang cave in the Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province. PHOTO: AFP

In this file photo taken on July 5, 2018, family members of the 12 boys and their coach from the "Wild Boars" football team trapped in the Tham Luang cave, pray before a shrine in the cave area as operations were underway to rescue them in the Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province. PHOTO: AFP

This handout picture from diver Ben Reymenants taken during the June-July 2018 rescue of the 12 boys from the "Wild Boars" football team and their coach trapped in the Tham Luang cave shows the rescue efforts in the cave in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province. PHOTO: AFP

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THAI CAVE RESCUE