“If they hadn’t survived the first sump [a underwater section in the cave], which was the longest one but not the most difficult one, I was going to say 'that’s all I can do' and walk away at that point," he said. The cave rescuers had set up a system whereby information about the welfare of the first boy rescued would be relayed back to chamber nine, where Dr Harris and the rest of the Boars were waiting. Australian Dr Richard Harris played a pivotal role in the extraordinary mission. "There was a slight hitch because I got over-excited and sent two off and had forgotten about the plan to get the feedback on the first one." Both Dr Harris and Mr Stanton have given few interviews since the succesful cave rescue in July.

Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Addressing a conference for cave divers in the UK over the weekend, Mr Stanton revealed that on June 28, he and fellow British diver John Volanthen surfaced in chamber three of the Tham Luang cave complex and found the four men. Chamber three, about 700 metres from the cave entrance, would later become the main base for the rescue operation but at this point in time, water levels had risen so much that it had been all but cut off from the cave entrance. Richard Stanton, left, and John Volanthen were tasked with finding the missing team. Credit:AP Only the most skilled cave divers, men like Mr Stanton and Mr Volanthen who could navigate the difficult watery 'sumps' - a sump is a submerged passage inside a cave - were able to reach chamber three.

According to an account on the British caving website Darkness Below, it was the sixth day of the rescue effort, water levels were rising within the cave, and conditions were treacherous. Loading At first the pair - who would be feted around the world four days later when they discovered the missing Thai soccer team - hoped they had found the Wild Boars. They soon realised they had found four men who had been trapped for at least 24 hours and had not been reported as missing. The revelation, also contained in the forthcoming book The Great Cave Rescue, is yet another dramatic twist in the extraordinary story of the Tham Luang Cave rescue.

In his presentation to the Hidden Earth conference, Mr Stanton said the four Thai men had no experience as divers or cavers, and neither of the two rescuers had brought extra equipment with them to undertake a rescue. What happened next was extraordinary. Mr Stanton and Mr Volanthen devised a plan to rescue the four Thai men by relaying them through the three sumps and sharing their equipment. The 12 rescued boys. Credit:Ministry of Health The pair did this by, first, both diving through the first sump.

One of them then took his diving gear off and the other diver swam back with the spare equipment, which the Thai workers would put on and use to come through the sump one-by-one. This slow and painful process, which was used to navigate through dangerous, dark waters that were perhaps five metres deep and 10 metres long, was repeated four times at three successive sumps. The rescue attempt involved considerable risk to the diver who had taken off his diving gear, given a surge of water could have come through the cave at any time. The fact that the four Thai men had never dived before only added to the level of difficulty. If one of the men had panicked under water, there was a very real risk of death. The Great Cave Rescue, by James Massola, will be published by Allen and Unwin on November 14.