i mean this is different than whether someone is going for someone who's very rich businessman who we need to get think it's how you approach an individual and also that is a certain way of doing it it's a conscious intention story imply alex. twelve young boys and their football coach enter a cave in northern thailand and disappear. with water levels rising how will rescuers find them and bring them out alive. i'm steve chair on this episode of what i want to east the inside story of one of the most extraordinary rescues of all time. saturday afternoon june twenty third twelve boys and they saw her courage heading

to the rugged mountains of northern thailand for a trick. they posted photos before writing to the time the one cave a place they have visited before. they are expected to return home to the nearby village later that day. a dozen members of a youth football team and their coach a missing after they entered a cave in northern thailand investigators believe the teenage boys and their coach called into the cave and they never came out search and rescue crews are on the same trying to locate the boys believe the team has been trapped by a flooded strain in the cave entrance. within twenty four hours of the boy's going missing a search operation is underway. the boy's bikes and backpacks of found near the entrance to the cave which becomes ground zero in the

search. distraught family members gather. was last. but i think. that how long haul. sixteen kilometers alone limestone can system with deep recesses and narrow passage

ways most of the year it's relatively dry but when the long soon comes it quickly fills with water and when that happens the cave is impossible to weigh into or to leave. the night of the boys are reported missing the time navy's elite seals diving team join the search. working around the clock in peach darkness they wade swim in dive through the black waters. at the same time agencies and volunteers begin the men with tasco of pumping water from the cave and surrounding area. in the right place they could survive. charged

a. little more time now than the. fire. going to be a point in time where the. only entrance to. the. day three the search is escalated into a major military operation. hundreds of searches scaled the melton for alternative entry points into the cave. one. the who is the boys and the coach have made it to a location clear of the rising water. and

love it but holds up and they have the money and if i made a couple. of it all is out. by the last one it up blow it out of all i love it that i'm not that. many. relatives can do is pray. of the four days this still no sign that the boys are alive. the time navy seals are unable to navigate the lebron of tide passages filled with murky flood water. time authorities cool for international help that it. says about five forty five in the morning and

my director of operations my number two guy the squadron called and said sure you're tracking the the there's a soccer team stuck in a cave in thailand be ready because we're being notified that we might. head out landed about one of the clocke in the morning on the twenty eighth june and then key leadership pushed straight to the cave site. to british cave divers have also been cooling by the time as rick stanton enjoy a conceded the best in the world and in the first to dive deep into the cave they briefed the americans on the daunting task ahead they were saying the currents right now are not manageable you know we've been battling to try to move forward the rains are still following the flows are getting higher the visibility zero the water's cold. on sunday july first. a

break in the rain and the risk you dive team to set up a base inside one of the cave chambers. the british divers foods deeper into the cave. below the surface they swim against strong currents for one point five kilometers. and then the moment it seems like a miracle. almost ten days since they first into the cave. we have been going what. we we don't have a clear. initially

it's a huge sigh of relief ok the the boys were able to find a high enough ground they've survived this long you know with some of the higher flood levels in the cave but then it was it was scary because we realize how far back they were in. the locating the boys the british divers stand in the length and call in reinforcements from home. member of the british research council diving rig diving team so. that's how we got called in and when you hear that it's twelve children and the young coach there in this situation what you first thought about the options or the boy ability of getting the match the first thought they're not going to get out and then the kids who don't recover as before with life people on. a saw about panic on the water. you can tell a kid whatever you want but in an actual situation where you've got

a kid in the war the more likely going to panic so first we thought it was not possible to actually dive them out. jason mellon sims first dive into the cave confirms his fears. so it's a bit of a. cost on the way out of sometimes it's you can only just feel the line sometimes you can see if a foot in front of year. all the times it's just nothing it's all by braille and you're trying to remember all these line traps so it's quite a mentally exhausting experience to go back. to letting all that you know all. the unfolding drama is now a major international story hundreds of journalists are here in a makeshift muddy village but the food of the number known melds and. thai people have also flocked to the site from all over the country to do whatever they can to help. a twenty four hour

a tent city in the middle of this remote location is feeding and supporting thousands of people involved in the operation. almost everything is being freely supplied. the operation has shifted from search to risk you're. a party of time navy seals including a medic reaches the stranded boys bringing food water heat blankets and medical supplies are. surprisingly they only have minor injuries. waiting above ground the boy's mother arrived a joy to watch the video of this son's. things that.

i. am. i. knew only about what no one. wanted to hear me do i don't want to take. them out. what a lot of diving up there and seeing all these kids how to play with their coach and they all seemed you know in good spirit. where they go is a quite a desolate place. they've know as. they go to the toilet. the smell is quite bought. while the nation and the world celebrate the boy's survival rescue as grapple with the enormous challenge of hell to get them else. the search for alternative entry points to the caves is proof utah.

we've had hundreds if not thousands of the time military that we were linked in with and they're not finding any other access points along the side and we found all the cave in experts that we could and they all confirmed now that there's one way in and out of this cave and that's at the front entrance of it there is no other option. the mission could not be more dangerous the boys in the coach are a kilometer below the surface and two point four kilometers inside the notoriously treacherous cave. the option of leaving the boys where they are until after the monsoon season has been canvassed but abandoned. homes are in action draining more to out of the cave but heavy rains a full cost which could quickly submerge the entire system. it we're fighting

mother nature trying to get this much water out but. it was really the understanding that the flow of water coming in and the lowering of the oxygen levels in chamber nine that that's that's what kind of forces to a decision of hey we've got to do something now. dr craig challen is a recently retired perth vet his friend harry is dr richard harris and the need to test from adelaide they have dived together all over the world where already they made contact with the british i followed by. i waiting up to this. probably familiar with what was going on in the car i've. yet to be honest not looking good at all. on friday july sixth as harrison challen a ride at the rescue site there is a tragedy. news breaks that

a former time navy seal involved in the operation has died. at the. petty officer. had left the navy but signed up to join the search is a volunteer. had been delivering canisters along the route being used by the divers in the cave in a cruel twist he lost consciousness after running out of himself on the return dive . got me. out. and. got that hoping that maybe not in the name of what would. be a back with a man. that. walked out of lebanon. but on. me and without. me.

yeah that was obviously a very sobering moment at the same time we realize ok this doesn't change anything we still have twelve kids and a coach in there we still have to to go forward and do this. in the aftermath of the tragedy the mood of the rescue changes. the short lived elation after the boys were discovered has been replaced by a sense of crisis in grim determination. everyone else was starting to see the same exact logic trail that was very quickly becoming too. the point that the dive option was the only option the tice eales tola say you know it's approved so we're going to go in and we're going to do this. this preparations for the rescue moving to their final stage everyone's morale is boosted when letters written by the boys to their families and brought out by

british divers are released. and that i love you if i can get out please take me to krispy park. fire it a bit corny but don't worry don't forget my birthday. i am happy the c.e.o. team is taking care of us the gray. what did you think of the the why those kids and comported themselves strong really strong you know composure. we told them about the plan the details of the plan that would have to how we don't have to dive them out and none of them were whimpering anything they just accepted what we were going to do. mental strength from them on which is really surprising considering consider in their ages how was it decided who goes out first who goes out what batch and when did the coach come out so that was up to. the boys the

coach the time and i.v. we told them what was going to happen and said you choose your best men and. sunday the eighth of july the twelve boys in the coach have been trapped for fifteen days the conditions are getting worse as the monsoon closes even there's a growing sense that it's now or never. that. here. right. the forty's or to anyone not involved in the rescue operation to leave the

area. as night falls the fleet of ambulances arrive this thirteen of them one for each of the boys in their coach. the task of bringing the boys will be the responsibility of a team of thirteen foreign divers and five time navy seals. it will take them three ehlers to make their way through the narrow dark passages to reach the boys. so this is where the boys are here in china but on so there's a there's a hill here craig challenge will play a key role along the route of the risk you get it is the unique skills of his friend. dr harris that will be critical to the success of the mission you know how

you keeping the boys. yeah so i did have some sort. of calm because the worst thing that could happen would be one of those guys panicking and if you put me in a full face mask with no previous experience and drag me out of a car if it's better three hour trip then i would be terrified and probably panicking as well. yet they were calmed down a bit. here yes i went out basically given a notice of the amount. yeah yeah there were there wasn't very much activity there . the risk you operation is an incredible feat of planning and coordination. so we kind of divided the cave up to make it easier nine areas right and there was of a hundred fifty people you know from chamber nine to then for the cave all working

as one big team with many different responsibilities. my role was one of the local recovery divers so i would take a kid from chamber nine and bring him the whole way out. so with the diving which submerge with the kid. on it depending on how the line led with him on the right side of the left on side of a hole in the back or hold in the chest i've affairs here depending if lightly to hit the roof or not or if we can see what was going on we would pull them out a little bit further. swing through the show. the first day reason to move his ability the saw of a major in front of my sword enough to hold on to the line by the last day it was no visibility to is much more. mentally exhausting and i had to have really close to me because if you did in. his head against the rocks was if i had my head quite close and the my head above in. my head was brushing the rocks first

so we could view it the visibility was that body couldn't see the rock until you actually hit it. there are certain areas that involve floating them to certain areas the involved swimming them if we have to rescuers per child you know ensuring that just at all times if there were two there was one always holding on to the child you feel in control. could get myself up i was confident of not losing control of the line i was confident of again the kid out i wasn't one hundred percent confident of game out of life because if we bashed him against the rope too hard in the next mask and flooded his mask he was a goner so that's why we have to be very slow and careful about not. banging them against rocks.

that body back down but need but i thought i might by the time that i know for the back of my pants whole. city sees on. the news that the first four of the boys have big risk you don't brood to safety is made with mixed emotions is the anxious families watch and like to learn who is being saved the some there is a lation for others more anxious waiting. to. come up in the light. if they happen to keep you made a good meal plain. weird trying not to get our soul sorry

a false sense of comfort and it could all still go horribly wrong and in fact you know it in some ways that it be worse for everyone involved if we'd had some good outcomes and then started to. list than twenty four hours later the seemingly miraculous fate is repeated. after a second risk you expedition but team of eighteen dive is another four boys have brought safely down to the cave. second day when we had another four for four we pulled everybody aside and said this does not change a thing we are not going to lower our vigilance we're not going to lower our attention to detail. we're just heard in the last hour or so that the ninth and tenth always. have been brought out and the news is coming through now is that the eleventh boy in the cave with to be shipping him through the narrow car doors the eleventh boy soon emerges and this news the coach is also free. is not full only

one boy remains inside the cave three time maybe seals and the astroid in dr richard harris with him they will stay until the very end. when the news is filtering out on officially at this stage that all thirteen members of the same out of the time that these rescue mission has been an unrivaled success that this is a miracle rescue. the eighteen day vigil is over. for the thai authorities who led this mission it is a dream result. in. that

bag. and words cannot describe how happy we were. here honestly was not a result. we thought we would get. is one of the most difficult and dangerous and risky things i don't know in terms of my own personal safety but in terms of the people i was responsible for never doing anything as risky as that and i don't think i ever will again. it was the only option we had we took it. in a world full of bad news how good is this this is awesome i were so cruel you were joy that not only is it

a good news story pushes you to the day we got the kids back to go to the parents and that's what matters in my mind. young rich and famous in china twenty one u.s. goes behind the great chinese fire wall to meet the cyber celebs of a booming multibillion dollar business. on al-jazeera.

denounced by israel hailed as a symbol of resistance for palestinians teenager i had tamimi leaves jail. and i know i'm maryanne demasi in london you know with al jazeera also coming up zimbabwe's ousted president robert mugabe turns his back on his old ruling party a day before monday's historic vote. in cambodia the ruling party claims victory in an election described as a sham by critics and thousand.