Thirteen Lessons that Saved Thirteen Lives

Diver John Volanthen reveals how he pushed the limits of human endurance in the life-or-death mission to rescue the Thai youth soccer team trapped for over a week in a flooded cave. The world held its breath in 2018 when the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach went missing deep underground in the Tham Luang cave complex in northern Thailand. They had been stranded by sudden, continuous monsoon rains while exploring the caves after practice. As the torrential rain persisted and the waters continued to rise, an army of rescue teams and equipment was deployed, including Thai Navy SEALs, a US Air Force special tactics squadron, police sniffer dogs, drones and robots. But it was British cave diver John Volanthen and his partner, Rick Stanton, who were first to reach the stranded team and who played a key role in their ultimate rescue. The picture of them alive on a ledge in a flooded cave made front page news worldwide. As John’s light flickered from one boy to another, he called out, ‘How many of you?’ ‘Thirteen,’ a boy answered. ‘Brilliant,’ he said. After 10 days trapped in desperate blackness, the boys and their coach were all alive. Each chapter of Thirteen Lessons that Saved Thirteen Livestells one part of the edge-of-your-seat mission from Tham Luang but also imparts a life lesson, gleaned from John’s previous rescues and record-breaking cave dives, that can be applied to everyday obstacles and challenges. In this story of breathtaking courage and mental mastery, John reveals how responding positively to the statement, ‘But I can’t…’ by stating, ‘I can,’ led to one of the most incredible rescues in history. He hopes that his story will inspire the superhero in you.