Thirteen Lives(2022)

Plot Summary

• On June 23, 2018, twelve boys of the junior football team "Wild Boars" and their assistant coach Ekkaphon Chanthawong (Teeradon Supapunpinyo) leave practice (They live in the Ban Chong city, in Chiang Rai province) to explore the Tham Luang cave. The caves are very deep. Chamber 3 is 800 m from the entrance. Suddenly, it starts raining and the save starts filling up with water. The rains are totally unexpected and nonseasonal and catches the team off guard. Its well known that the caves flood in the monsoons. When the team fail to arrive at a birthday party organized by their parents, their families head to the caves, only to find them flooded and the boys missing, their bikes left at the entrance. The parents immediately alert emergency services. word reaches Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn (Sahajak Boonthanakit), who deploys the Thai Navy Seals.Royal Thai Navy SEALs, led by Captain Arnont (Teerapat Sajakul), arrive to search for the missing boys, but find the dive too difficult to locate the team. Vernon Unsworth (Lewis Fitz-Gerald), a local British caver, shares his extensive knowledge of the complex and dangerous cave (he had mapped the entire cave extensively on paper) and suggests the authorities get in touch with the British Cave Rescue Council. The first rescue attempt reaches chamber 3 and has to turn back when they encounter a flash flood. DAy 2, more agencies get mobilized and the effort is to pump water out of the caves. The attempts are futile as there are many sinkholes on the mountain which are feeding water all over the caves.. The pumps are not fast enough. Thousands of Thai and international volunteers join the rescue effort to help in anyway they can. A temp base is set up in Chamber 3.Day 5. British cavers Rick Stanton (Viggo Mortensen) and John Volanthen (Colin Farrell) attempt the dive (They reach the stalactite tunnel 900 ms from the entrance. They get to T junction 1600 M from the entrance in 3 hrs and 49 mins). Mid way through the dive they find a stranded rescuer who was trying to fix the pumps and John takes him back to Chamber 3 from where he is taken to safety. John and Rick return from T junction, which is also till where the Thai Navy seals had gotten to and had already laid guide lines up to that place. Day 7, and there is still no sign of the boys or their coach. The governor holds a meeting of all teams. the Navy seals wants the rain to stop before going back in. John and Rick offer to go in then and now. The governor decides to hold back the divers till the rains stop. Meanwhile, as hundreds of volunteers try to mitigate poor weather conditions, a water technician from Bangkok (who has discovered all the sinkholes on the mountains, which are filling up the caves, and can block them with the help of the locals) gains the permission of local farmers to divert water from the mountain onto their fields, destroying their crop.Day 9, the rains finally give a break. The governor decides to send in Rick and John as the Navy seals still need 24 hrs for prep. The guys reach T junction and start laying their own guide lines. Eventually, they find the boys and coach in chamber 9, about 2500 ms from the entrance (total dive time of 6 hrs and 12 mins). Rick and John find all 13 of the missing boys and coach alive. Rick is distraught as he knows that if the Thai wait for the water to be pumped out, the boys will never come out alive. The kids are likely to panic on the 2.5 km dive back and are very likely to get injured or die. Still Rick and John brief the Thai Navy seals on the route beyond T junction. Day 11. The Thai team delivers some food and medicines to the boys. But they use too much O2 coming in and now only one of them can get out safely. The O2 in chamber 9 is only 16% and dropping quickly. Day 12. The parents start losing patience and still the Thai teams have no clue as to how to get the boys out.Realising the boys will have to be removed through the cave, via a 6 hour dive, Stanton and Volanthen contact Dr. Richard Harris (Joel Edgerton), plus supporting divers Chris Jewell (Tom Bateman) and Jason Mallinson (Paul Gleeson). They work with the Thai teams to deliver food to the stranded boys on Day 14. Day 15. In an attempt to deliver wet-suits to the boys in preparation for the rescue, former Thai Navy Seal Saman Kunan drowns (Sukollawat Kanarot). Harris is not sure as too much anesthetic and the boys can die of respiratory failure, too little and they wake up underwater and drown.Day 16. With permission from the regional governor and minister, the divers sedate the boys and, with one diver per boy, carry each member out of the cave safely. Day 16, 4 boys are carried out. The boys have to given injections for sedatives every half hr. Harris was expecting casualties, but all the boys make it through. Under immense secrecy the 4 rescued boys are taken to a city hospital. The govt doesn't want to release any details to the media or the parents till the rescue operation is complete. Day 17, 5 more boys are rescued. The monsoon clouds are gathering over the mountains and time is running out fast. Day 18, the remaining boys are carried out. The coach is removed last.Removed to hospital, the parents are reunited with the team. The end scene is the boys celebrating the birthday party that was supposed to happen on the day they went into the cave. The end credits reveal that the coach and three of the boys, who were all stateless, are given Thai citizenship. The film is dedicated to Saman Kunan, the Thai Navy Seal who died while resupplying air tanks on July 6, 2018. The credits also mention another Navy Seal, Beirut Pakbara, who later died from a blood infection. Volunteers diverted 56 MM gallons of water from the cave. Farmers who lost their crops were offered compensation. 5000 people from 17 countries contributed to the effort.

Storyline

• On June 23, 2018, twelve boys of the junior football team "Wild Boars" and their assistant coach Ekkaphon Chanthawong leave practice to explore the Tham Luang cave. When the team fails to arrive at a birthday party organized by their parents, their families head to the caves, only to find them flooded and the boys missing, their bikes left at the entrance. The parents immediately alert emergency services. Royal Thai Navy SEALs, led by Captain Arnont (Teerapat Sajakul), arrive to search for the missing boys, but find the dive too difficult to locate the team. Vernon Unsworth (Lewis Fitz-Gerald), a local British caver, shares his extensive knowledge of the complex and dangerous cave and suggests the authorities get in touch with the British Cave Rescue Council. British cavers Rick Stanton (Viggo Mortensen) and John Volanthen (Colin Farrell) travel to Thailand and attempt the dive, finding the boys and coach four kilometers from the entrance. During an attempt to deliver air tanks to the boys to keep them alive in preparation for the rescue, former Thai Navy Seal Saman Kunan (Sukollawat Kanarot) drowns. Meanwhile, as hundreds of volunteers try to mitigate poor weather conditions, a water technician from Bangkok gains the permission of local farmers to divert water from the mountain onto their fields, destroying their crop. Realizing the boys will have to be removed through the cave, via a 6-hour dive, knowing the risks are, Stanton and Volanthen contact Dr. Richard Harris (Joel Edgerton), plus supporting divers Chris Jewell (Tom Bateman) and Jason Mallinson (Paul Gleeson). With permission from the regional governor (Sahajak Boonthanakit) and minister, the divers sedate the boys and, with one diver per boy, carry each member out of the cave safely. The coach is removed last. Removed to hospital, the parents are reunited with the team. The end scene is the boys celebrating the birthday party that was supposed to happen on the day they went into the cave. The end credits reveal that the coach and three of the boys, who were all stateless, are given Thai citizenship. The film is dedicated to Saman Kunan, the Thai Navy Seal who died on July 6, 2018 during the rescue operation, and Beirut Pakbara, a Thai Navy Seal who later died from a blood infection.