Discovery has ordered a one-hour documentary special on the daring rescue of a boys’ soccer team from a flooded cave in Thailand. “Operation Thai Cave Rescue” will debut Friday on Discovery Channel and air Saturday on Science Channel.
The soccer team was trapped in a cave complex near the Myanmar border. The boys and their coach were located last Monday by a team of divers after a nine-day search. All 12 members of the team, which consisted of boys aged 11-16 and their coach, were rescued. On Tuesday morning, the final four children and their 25-year-old coach were saved by Thai Navy SEALs.
It was originally believed that the team would have to stay in the caves until the end of monsoon season, which would last for several more months. But after flooding in the cave worsened, a team of 90 rescue divers — 40 Thai, 50 foreign — were sent in to extract group members as soon as possible.
The documentary will explore why and how the team got trapped, how they survived for nearly two weeks without knowing how to swim. “Operation Thai Cave Rescue” will also answer why the cave’s unique geology presented so many challenges.
“Operation Thai Cave Rescue” is produced for Discovery Channel by ITN Productions. Jon Bardin and Andrew O’Connell serve as executive producers for Discovery. Ian Russell serves as Executive Producer for ITN Productions.