Grit and dare: How rescuers braved a black maze to save Thai cave boys

None of the rescued children, aged between 11 and 16, were strong swimmers let alone competent divers

Two days after 12 boys and their soccer coach disappeared inside a cave complex in Thailand's mountainous north, a team of Thai Royal Navy SEALs headed before sunrise into the pitch-black maze of muddy passages to find them.  

"We worked until we forgot the time," said Captain Anan Surawan, chief of the 1st Special Forces Regiment. 

But their day-long mission failed because, as monsoon rains lashed the limestone hills outside, Anan's men found themselves wading through rapidly rising waters and, fearing for their lives, they turned back. 

A week later, when British divers found the 13, hungry and huddled in darkness on