Divers who rescued boys trapped in Thai cave given honorary degrees

John Volanthen and Rick Stanton became unlikely heroes when they carried out a remarkable rescue of 13 people from the flooded cave system in Thailand in 2018.

The operation, which was reported across the world, was described as one of the greatest rescues of all time.

John, from Bristol, and Rick, from Coventry, were called in by the Thai government after heavy rain marooned 12 members of a junior football team and their assistant coach in a cave complex in the north of the country.

The rescue involved 5,000 people, with John and Rick leading the operation.

The pair had to navigate 2.5km of constricted underwater passageways, in near zero visibility, against a fast flowing, debris-strewn current.

Although John said he was “reasonably confident” in managing his safety, for the boys “it was extremely dangerous”.

“Trying to get them out was something that hadn’t been done before,” he remarked.

Cave diving is often said to be more dangerous than Base jumping or high altitude climbing. For scale, more people have walked on the moon than have been to some of the remote caves that John and Rick dived in.

The team had to inject the boys with anaesthetic ketamine, the anti-anxiety drug Xanax and atropine, which slows the heart rate and reduces salivation, before dragging and squeezing them out of the submerged cave.

“It was a protracted two and a half weeks and you had to think outside the box. We were literally writing procedures, there was no manual – this had never been done before”, said Rick.

John Volanthen (pictured) is an IT consultant, who remains a scout leader in his hometown of Long Ashton, just outside Bristol – photo: British Spartathlon

The highly-publicised rescue was one of many the pair had undertaken, but “the scale and complexity of this particular problem was head and shoulders above the rest,” according to John.

The two divers were nominated by Linda Wilson, Vice-President of the University of Bristol’s Spelaeological Society, who said: “Rick, John and the other rescue divers were being asked to perform an impossible task.

“Fortunately, by a combination of extraordinary courage and meticulous planning, they overcame all the odds and succeeded in one of the most extraordinary rescues that has ever been attempted, ultimately bringing out all 12 boys and their coach alive despite the most hazardous conditions imaginable.”

The pair received their honorurary degrees on Wednesday, July 6, as part of the University of Bristol’s summer graduations, many of which are for students who could not graduate over the last two years due to the pandemic.

Rick said it was an “absolute honour” to receive the award, and John added: “It’s an honour and humbling, especially considering others who have received the same and have achieved far greater things than me.”

The pair plan to go diving together near Bristol today (Thursday, July 7).

Main photo: University of Bristol

Read more: The Bristol IT consultant who spearheaded mission to find boys trapped in Thai cave

Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast: