This week, Katie is bewitched by the incredible rescue of the Wild Boars youth soccer team from Tham Luang cave. 

In June 2018, twelve boys and their soccer coach headed into a local cave system to celebrate a teammate's birthday. But what was a typical afternoon for kids in this rural northern Thailand town quickly became an unthinkable emergency when an unexpected rainstorm left their only exit underwater. Within days, the entire world watched with bated breath as expert cave divers fought against a raging subterranean river in an increasingly desperate bid to find the team. Then, nine days after their disappearance, divers Rick Stanton and John Volanthen surfaced 2.5 miles from the cave entrance and found themselves face-to-face with thirteen survivors. 

In this first half of a two-part series, we explore the days leading up to the discovery of the Wild Boars team. In part 2, we'll cover the absolutely miraculous rescue of all thirteen boys. 

Staff picks: 

• Heartstopper: a Netflix series based on the graphic novels of the same name by Alice Oseman 
• Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell 

find these titles and more in our bookshop!

Links:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27723015/

http://www.swiss-cave-diving.org/PDF-dateien/Potts_30YearsUSACaveDiving.pdf

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-accident-cave-timeline/timeline-thai-cave-rescue-that-transfixed-the-world-for-17-days-idUSKCN1TP1GB

https://globalnews.ca/news/4322827/how-thai-soccer-team-became-trapped-in-thai-cave/#:~:text=Some%20of%20the%20boys%20had,returning%20home%20on%20June%2023.

https://www.vox.com/2018/7/18/17585868/thai-cave-rescue-press-conference

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/13/uk/thai-cave-rescue-british-divers-intl/index.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/26/world/asia/thai-cave-rescue-tourism.html

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