The Wild Boars soccer team enters Tham Luang cave after practice with their assistant coach, Coach Ek.

Rising floodwaters fill the passage at Sam Yaek, trapping the boys inside the cave.

Coach Ek attempts to swim through the flooded passage with a rope but cannot find a way through.

The boys' parents raise the alarm after Night misses his birthday party, and rescue workers find the team's bikes outside the cave.

Local rescue divers arrive at Tham Luang but their air tanks are too bulky to fit through the cave passage.

The Royal Thai Navy SEALs attempt to dive the flooded passages but are forced back by strong current and depleted air.

Vern Unsworth warns the Chiang Rai governor that only expert cave divers can save the boys.

US Air Force Major Charles Hodges arrives at base camp and assembles teams to explore every possible rescue option.

Rick Stanton and John Volanthen discover four workers accidentally trapped in Chamber 3 and rescue them in an unplanned dive.

Rick Stanton and John Volanthen dive through all flooded passages and find all twelve boys and Coach Ek alive in Chamber 9.

Retired Thai Navy SEAL Saman Gunan dies during a supply dive inside Tham Luang.

Major Charles Hodges presents a complete dive rescue plan to Thai leaders and wins their approval.

Rescue divers sedate the first boy, Note, and Jason Mallinson dives him safely through the flooded cave passages.

All twelve Wild Boars and Coach Ek are successfully pulled from the flooded cave in separate rescue dives.

After leaving the hospital, the Wild Boars spend nine days as novice Buddhist monks to express their gratitude.

The Wild Boars soccer team follows Coach Ek into Tham Luang cave and becomes trapped when floodwaters rise unexpectedly and seal the passage at Sam Yaek junction. Local rescuers and the Thai Navy SEALs are unable to push through the dangerous conditions, prompting the arrival of expert cave divers and Major Charles Hodges's US Air Force team. After Rick Stanton and John Volanthen find all thirteen survivors alive deep in Chamber 9, the massive operation shifts to planning how to get them out safely. The tragic death of Saman Gunan during a supply dive forces a bitter debate about whether to attempt a dive rescue or wait out the floods. Major Hodges convinces Thai leaders to approve a bold dive rescue plan, and the sedated boys are carried out one by one over three tense days. Against enormous odds, every one of the Wild Boars and their coach emerge safely, and the team later honors the thousands of rescuers by pledging as novice monks.

The rescue of the Wild Boars, start to finish.

The boys leave their shoes and backpacks at Sam Yaek junction and push deeper into the cave.

Coach Ek and the boys attempt to dig a canal with rocks to lower the rising floodwater.

The boys discover a sandy hill deeper in the cave where clean water trickles down the walls.

The governor of Chiang Rai province arrives at the cave and informs the boys' families that they are trapped.

Rising floodwaters force the Thai Navy SEALs to retreat entirely from the Sam Yaek area of the cave.

Water expert Thanet Natisri arrives at base camp and begins investigating the groundwater situation at Tham Luang.

Thanet identifies a nearby pond called Sai Tong as likely connected to the cave and begins drilling to pump water out.

Thanet discovers farmers with a homemade super-pump who drove over 500 miles to help but had been given no assignment.

The rain stops and the water level inside the cave begins to recede for the first time.

Rick Stanton and John Volanthen successfully lay a guideline and dive as far as Sam Yaek junction to scout conditions.

Six Thai SEALs and army doctor Dr. Pak make a supply dive to the boys without consulting the British dive team.

Three Thai Navy SEALs and Dr. Pak become stranded in Chamber 9 after underestimating the air supply needed for the return dive.

Sergeant Anderson sets up a practice area in the Tham Luang parking lot where rescuers rehearse each cave section with local children.

Rescue diver Chris Jewell loses the guideline between chambers on the final rescue day and backtracks disoriented to the previous chamber.

A pump fails inside the cave as the last Thai SEAL surfaces in Chamber 3 and the passages flood completely behind the rescuers.

While the Wild Boars shelter deep in the cave and try everything they can to survive, a massive and often chaotic operation unfolds outside Tham Luang. The Thai Navy SEALs are ultimately pushed back by rising water, and water expert Thanet Natisri begins attacking the flooding from multiple angles, including discovering an unassigned crew of farmers with powerful pumps. A critical turning point comes when the rain finally stops and water levels begin to drop, allowing divers to lay a guideline and prepare a serious rescue attempt. Supply dives bring food and medical care to the boys, but three SEALs and a doctor become stranded alongside them after misjudging their air supply. The rescue team rehearses every step of the dive plan at a makeshift practice area, simulating the cave with the help of local children. On the final rescue day, navigational errors and a pump failure test everyone's nerve, but all survivors make it out just before the cave floods completely behind them.

The behind-the-scenes efforts that made rescue possible.

A roaring rush of wind and rapidly rising floodwater force the boys to abandon their return path at Sam Yaek.

Coach Ek leads the Wild Boars in meditation inside the cave to calm their minds and preserve their mental strength.

The boys sit in complete darkness on a sandy hill, saving flashlight batteries and drinking water trickling off the cave walls.

Vern Unsworth deduces that the boys most likely sheltered on high ground past Sam Yaek along the left-hand cave path.

Rick Stanton and John Volanthen refuse to re-enter the cave without a guideline in place, frustrating the Thai Navy SEALs.

After a full week trapped in the cave, the Wild Boars begin digging by hand again, refusing to give up hope.

Thanet learns from Vern Unsworth that reducing water flowing in from Monk's Series would significantly improve rescue dive conditions.

Thanet's team builds barriers of bamboo, rope, and plastic sheeting over sinkholes to divert water away from entering the cave.

Rick Stanton and John Volanthen capture video footage of the trapped boys inside Chamber 9 that spreads worldwide on news stations.

Rescuers confirm there are no usable alternate cave entrances and that drilling is not feasible, leaving a dive rescue as the only option.

Oxygen levels in Chamber 9 drop dangerously low, threatening the lives of the boys and the four stranded Thai Navy SEALs.

Saman Gunan's death splits rescuers: British divers push for an immediate dive rescue while Thai leaders want to wait out the rains.

Australian anesthesiologist Dr. Richard Harris is flown in and develops the sedation plan to keep the boys unconscious during the rescue dive.

Jason Mallinson discovers that the face mask assigned to the last boy, Mark, is too large and successfully improvises with a backup.

Coach Ek and three stateless Wild Boars players are granted Thai citizenship following the rescue's international attention.

The story's pivotal moments begin with the sudden surge of floodwater that seals the boys inside the cave and Coach Ek's decision to use meditation as their greatest survival tool. Key revelations follow in quick succession: Vern Unsworth's educated deduction about the boys' location, Rick and John's refusal to dive recklessly, and Thanet's discovery that diverting sinkholes above the cave could ease the flooding. The moment the boys are found alive on day ten is captured on video and shared around the world, but the hard truth that no surface rescue is possible, combined with Saman Gunan's death, triggers a dangerous communication breakdown between rescue groups. With oxygen levels in Chamber 9 dropping to lethal levels, Thanet and Colonel Singhanat bridge the divide between Thai leaders and the British and American teams, opening the door for a full presentation of the dive rescue plan. Anesthesiologist Dr. Richard Harris's sedation plan makes the dive rescue viable, while last-minute improvisation by divers under pressure ensures every boy makes it out. In the aftermath, the rescue brings lasting change, including Thai citizenship for Coach Ek and three of his stateless players.