Thai cave boys speak for first time after leaving hospital: 'We didn't think we would see our families again'

Boys give news conference as doctors say they have gained weight and reacted well to treatment for infection

Members of the Thai junior football team who were trapped in a flooded cave have described their rescue as a “miracle moment”.

The 12 boys, who make up the Wild Boars football team, appeared at a press conference in matching shirts after being discharged from hospital in Chiang Rai.

Doctors were satisfied that they had gained weight and were recovering well from minor infections.

They answered questions, which had been screened for sensitivity, alongside their coach and members of Thailand’s Navy Seals who rescued them.

Speaking for 45 minutes, they seemed healthy, alert, engaged – and cracked jokes.

It was a far cry from the video that caught the world’s attention nine days after they disappeared into the Tham Luang cave network, on 23 June, looking cold, thin and scared.

Thai officials said they and their coach, Ekapol Chantawong, who was also present, will be eased into life in the spotlight.

It was left to Ekapol, or “Ake”, as the boys call him, to describe the day they entered the caves.

Ekapol said the boys initially “just wanted to walk around” the cave before some asked if they could venture deeper. After testing the water and finding it “wasn’t too deep”, Ekapol agreed that they could trudge further in.

When they turned round to go back, a short while later, the coach said, the water level had dramatically risen and they became disorientated, losing sight of the exit.

Asked how he felt at this point, one of the youngest boys in the team said the boys were “afraid they wouldn’t see their families again”.

“I was afraid I wouldn’t go home, that I would be told off by my mother,” one said. They had no food with them.

Adul Sam-on, the 14-year-old who spoke in English to the two British volunteers who found them 2 July, recalled that day.

“We were on top of the hill and Coach Ake said it sounded like there were some people speaking. We were not sure so we kept quiet and listened – and it was true. We were surprised, and he asked [the boy holding the torch] to go down and check, and hurry before they pass by.”

The boy with the torch hesitated, at which point Adul grabbed the light himself, stepped down the hill and said, in English, “Hello”. The subsequent exchange – including the divers’ delight at being told they had found all 13 members of the team – was captured on video by the divers and broadcast around the world.

“It was magical,” he said. “I had to think a lot before I could answer their questions.”

The boys revealed how they had tried desperately to carve their own way out of the raised chamber where they were trapped, surrounded by flood waters for most of the ordeal – efforts which proved futile.

“We took turns digging at the cave walls,” said the coach. “We didn’t want to wait around until authorities found us.”

Ekapol also revealed how little the boys appreciated the scale of the rescue effort beyond the chamber where they were trapped. Asked how he chose which boy should leave the cave first with divers, he said he picked the best cyclist of the group – thinking he would have to cycle home from the cave entrance.

While some responses prompted laughter, there were serious moments too.

Two of the boys held up a framed pencil sketch of Saman Kunan, 38, the former Thai Navy Seal who died while working to replenish oxygen supplies along the cave exit route.

“Thank you for coming to rescue us,” one boy said to the picture of Mr Kunan. “Sorry to your family. I wish you rest in peace, from the bottom of my heart. Sorry again.”

Asked about the moment in hospital when the team all found out a diver had died during the rescue, Ekapol said: “Everyone was very sad. They felt like they were the reason he had to die and his family had to suffer.”

The boys were accompanied on stage by the four Thai navy Seals who had stayed with them in the cave for more than a week while evacuation plans were being drawn up.

And while many of the boys said they wanted to be professional footballers when they grew up, one drew a gasp from those present when he said he wanted to become “a navy Seal, so I can save people”.

The boys were reunited with some school friends before the Q&A and were expected to head home with their parents afterwards.

Many said their first message for their parents was an apology – none appeared to have informed their parents of the cave visit beforehand, saying only they were going to play football.

“Sorry for being a naughty boy,” one said. “I will not go in the caves again.”

As the news conference drew to a close, a psychologist who has been working with the boys appealed to the media for their “cooperation” with the boys’ recovery, saying they should be left alone to live like normal children.

The new governor of Chiang Rai, who was not directly involved in the rescue effort, said the boys would continue to receive support from the local government, and handed out gift packages “from the prime minister”.

While the boys seemed generally cheerful, “we don’t know what wounds the kids are carrying in their hearts,” said justice ministry official Tawatchai Thaikaew.

“The media know the children are in a difficult situation, they have overcome peril and if you ask risky questions then it could break the law,” he told reporters.