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THAI CAVE RESCUE

British divers Richard Stanton and John Volanthen at the heart of the Thai cave rescue

Valentine Low
The Times
British divers Richard Stanton, left, and John Volanthen near the Tham Luang cave complex, where members of a boys’ football team and their coach have been found alive
British divers Richard Stanton, left, and John Volanthen near the Tham Luang cave complex, where members of a boys’ football team and their coach have been found alive
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Valentine Low
The Times

Specialist British radio equipment flown to Thailand played a key role in locating the trapped boys, it emerged yesterday.

The Derbyshire Cave Rescue Organisation sent four Heyphone radios to northern Thailand which can transmit through hundreds of metres of solid rock. The kit was used by the two British cave divers who found the 12 boys and their football coach on Monday.

Rick Stanton, 57, and John Volanthen, 47, who are among the best rescue divers in the world, have taken part in similar operations in Ireland, Norway and France. Mr Stanton once helped to save British cavers who had been trapped underground in Mexico for more than a week.

“They are two of the best,” said Martin Grass, chairman of the Cave Diving Group,