Thai cave where soccer team was dramatically rescued reopens to tourists
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Thailand's government has officially reopened the cave where 12 boys and their soccer coach were trapped during a rescue saga that received worldwide attention last year.
Approximately 2,000 visitors flocked to the reopening of Tham Luang cave on Friday, hoping to be the first to enter the world-famous site in Chiang Rai, according to the Bangkok Post.
It had been closed to visitors since members of the Wild Boars youth soccer team were trapped for 17 days in the flooded caverns nearly 15 months ago.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Thai rescue teams work inside the cave complex during last year's rescue efforts. (Tham Luang Rescue Operation Center via AP)
More than a million people have visited the cave over the past year, although no one has been able to go inside due to restoration efforts, according to the Bangkok Post.
On Friday, the outlet reported that 20 people were admitted at a time inside the cave's mouth and the first chamber. The attraction was open between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“We have allowed visitors to see the mouth of the cave,” said Kamolchai Kotcha, director of the local conservation office that oversees the cave told the Japan Times.
More than 90 divers were part of the rescue effort that saw experts from various countries trying to help. The youths, aged between 11 and 16, and their coach had all been rescued by July 10 of last year.
The young boys were handcuffed and heavily sedated during the rescue efforts, according to "The Cave," a book by Australian Broadcast Corporation correspondent Liam Cochrane.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HONG KONG PROTESTERS MET WITH TEAR GAS AFTER ATTACKING CHINESE NEWS AGENCY OFFICES
While all of the boys survived, Thai Navy diver Saman Gunan died after losing consciousness while making his way out of the treacherous caverns as he was delivering air tanks during the rescue efforts.
The rescue efforts were detailed on the Australian television series, "Four Corners."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“It’s one of the most difficult and dangerous and risky things I’ve ever done, not in terms of my own personal safety, but in terms of the people I was responsible for,” British cave diver Jason Mallinson told Cochrane.
“I’ve never done anything as risky as that and I don’t think I ever will again. But it was the only option we had, and we took it.”
Some of the boys who were trapped in the cave last year. (Royal Thai Navy Facebook Page via AP, File)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In addition to the publication of Cochrane's book and others, Netflix has secured the right to make a miniseries about the dramatic rescue.