One of the 11 members of a boy’s soccer team who were rescued from a cave in Thailand has been reunited with one of his rescuers.
Five years ago, Adul Samon, his teammates and coach were trapped in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave with his 11 soccer teammates and coach during the monsoon season. The rescue efforts became a worldwide media sensation. The story has since been made into four movies (two documentaries, two inspired-by films).
Rick Stanton, a volunteer from an elite British diving team, was one of the cave divers who helped rescue the boys. This past week, Samon reunited with Stanton at his high school graduation.
According to ABC World News Tonight, Stanton gave a commencement address at Samon’s graduation and was on stage to watch Samon receive his diploma.
“I didn’t know what I should say or what I was supposed to say” Samon told ABC World News Tonight. “I just happy that finally people found us.”
Samon enrolled in the Masters School in 2020 with a full scholarship and became captain of the school’s soccer team, the outlet reports.
“What I heard about his work ethic — and who he was in the cave, and who he was before the cave and after, I knew that he was gonna be just fine here” Laura Danforth, the head of the school, told World News Tonight.
When trapped in the cave, the Wild Boars soccer team believed that digging a tunnel could help them escape the path blocked by the monsoon season’s floodwaters. The boys and the coach took up shifts to dig with their bare hands.
Stanton located the boys and the coach nine days after being trapped. Over the next three days, the rescue team aided them with medicine and foil blankets as they assisted the boys and the coach to the surface.
“I’m very proud of the fact that I was partly responsible for his, you know, his life, in a way. And to see him make the most of the opportunities he’s had,” Stanton told World News Tonight.
Samon is heading to Middlebury College in the fall and shares his approach to life.
“We have to keep adjusting to the environment where you are in order to survive. You have to keep adapting your life” Samon said.
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