Responses

Localedit

Residents of Chiang Rai province volunteered to cook, clean for, and otherwise support the missing team's families and the rescue teams at the encampment by the cave mouth. Social media were used to draw attention to the rescue attempts. Classmates and teachers of the team spent time chanting and praying for the missing boys. Classmates of one of the boys made 1,000 paper cranes for him, while praying for his safe return. Local schools donated money to help the parents with living costs, as many of them stopped working in order to follow the rescue attempts.

On 29 June, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha visited the search site and told the families of the boys not to give up hope. Following the death of Saman Kunan, King Rama X announced that he would sponsor Kunan's funeral.

After the rescue was completed, the boys' families, the rescue commander, military officials, and the thousands of volunteers gathered at the cave entrance. The group gave thanks for the lives saved and asked forgiveness from the cave goddess "Jao Mae Tham" for the intrusion of pumps, ropes and people during the rescue.

Opinions about assistant coachedit

Some observers, primarily in Western media, questioned whether assistant coach Ekkaphon Chanthawong should face criminal charges for leading the group into the caves, despite the warning sign at the entrance stating that it is dangerous to enter between July and November. The boys had entered the cave on 23 June, one week before the advised period. Local communities, as well as the boys' parents, emphasised that they did not blame the boys or their coach, as the rain had arrived a month earlier than usual. Vern Unsworth, a British caver mapping the cave, stated, "Nobody's to blame, not the coach, not the boys. They were just very unlucky ... It wasn’t just the rain that day, the mountain is like a sponge and waters from earlier rain were raising the levels". Unsworth said that he himself had been planning to make a solo venture into the complex on 24 June, when he received a telephone call saying the boys were missing there.

While the police chief told the newspaper Khao Sod that he "hadn't ruled out" pressing negligence charges against the coach for putting the team in danger, no calls were made to take legal action against him. A number of lawyers stated that the coach would probably not face criminal charges, since Thai law also takes into consideration whether a person has malicious intent. In mainstream media, Ekkaphon has widely been held 'a hero' and was a "calm voice that helped boys to beat despair in the darkness." The coach was reported to have treated the boys with care, giving them his food, helping them remain calm, and instructing them to drink the relatively clean water dripping from the cave walls, instead of the murky floodwaters that trapped them.

When asked if Ekkaphon should be held legally responsible for negligence, Mongkhon Bunpiam, the father of 12-year-old Mongkhon, rejected the suggestion: "We would never do that...the boys love their coach...and we as parents don't want it either. Coach Ekk has been good to my boy, and now I hear how he gave them hope, and kept them calm for so many days without food. I have great admiration for him." Tanawut Vibulrungruang, father of 11-year old Chanin, was reported to be "touched by the actions of the team's coach. Without him...he doesn't know how the kids could have survived." The team's head coach, Nopparat Kanthawong, said he would not have approved of the hike, but was confident in Ekkaphon's ability to take care of the boys. Prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said that the emphasis should be on the rescue and the recovery of the team, and he asked the public to avoid a rush to judgment.

Internationaledit

Over the course of two weeks, hundreds of volunteers, military specialists and corporate experts arrived from around the world to offer assistance in the rescue.

• Australia: Six Australian Federal Police (AFP) Specialist Response Group divers, one Navy Clearance diver, one Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT) member and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Crisis Response Team officers. Up to 20 Australians were involved at the cave site. Doctor Richard Harris, an anaesthetist, was part of the medical team that determined the boys' fitness to make the 4-kilometre (2.5 mi) journey. Harris and his diving partner, retired veterinarian Doctor Craig Challen, both cave diving specialists, played key roles in the rescue. The Thai government provided Harris with diplomatic immunity to protect him in case anything went wrong with the sedation.
• Belgium: Ben Reymenants, the owner of a diving school in Phuket, contributed in cave diving capacity.
• Canada: Erik Brown, a dive instructor from Vancouver, participated on the cave diving team.
• China: A six-man team from the volunteer rescue organisation the Beijing Peaceland Foundation arrived on 29 June. The team brought rescue equipment including an underwater robot, diving equipment and a three-dimensional imager. A second Chinese team arrived on 30 June from the Green Boat Emergency Rescue organisation with expertise in search and rescue on mountains and in caves.
• Czech Republic: Government of the Czech Republic offered to provide a Czech manufacturer's high performance pumps; the state has four such pumps, each with an output of 400 litres per second (1,440,000 l/h (380,000 US gal/h)). Upon inspection at the site, however, it was determined heavy-duty pumps could not be used due to unsuitable terrain.
• Denmark: Two Danish divers, Ivan Karadzic who runs a diving center with Finnish Mikko Paasi, and Claus Rasmussen, a diving instructor, participated in the cave diving team.
• Finland: Diver Mikko Paasi came to assist with rescue efforts.
• France: Diver Maksym Polejaka assisted with the rescue efforts.
• Ireland: Diver Jim Warny assisted with the rescue efforts.
• India: Experts from the pump manufacturer Kirloskar Brothers provided technical advice on dewatering and pumps.
• Israel: Diver Rafael Aroush joined the diving team while emergency mobile communication devices were donated by Maxtech NetWorks.
• Japan: Divers and engineers, including Shigeki Miyake, a drainage specialist of the Japan International Cooperation Agency in Thailand, assisted in efforts to pump water out of the cave.
• Laos: Members of the Vientiane Rescue contributed to search and rescue efforts.
• Netherlands: Drainage specialists were sent to aid water pumping efforts.
• Russia: Ministry of Emergency Situations readied a volunteer team including a rescue specialist.
• Ukraine: Divers Vsevolod Korobov and Maksym Polejaka came to assist with rescue efforts.
• United Kingdom: The British Cave Rescue Council sent eight experienced cave rescue divers, some familiar with caves in Thailand, to lead the diving team; three cave rescue personnel; and special equipment. Vernon Unsworth, a British man living in the area, was the first person with caving expertise on the site. John Volanthen and Rick Stanton discovered the boys and led the cave diving team. Chris Jewell and Jason Mallinson brought 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) of diving equipment. Other divers involved included Connor Roe and Josh Bratchley. Other cave rescue personnel, Mike Clayton, and Gary Mitchell provided surface control for the divers, along with Robert Harper who had initially deployed among the first three U.K. divers. Tim Acton deployed as a friend of the Thai Navy SEALs.
• United States: On 28 June, the US military's Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) deployed 36 personnel from Okinawa, including airmen from 353rd Special Operations Group and the 31st Rescue Squadron. According to Military.com, they joined seven other personnel, including a member of Joint US Military Advisory Group Thailand. Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning said that US personnel had "staged equipment and prepared the first three chambers of the cave for safe passage. The US contingent assisted in transporting the evacuees through the final chambers of the system, and provided medical personnel and other technical assistance to the rescue efforts." SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk and engineers from two of his companies designed a "kid-sized" submarine as a backup plan. Thai authorities decided not to use the submarine backup plan.

Volunteers, teams and technical specialists from countries including Germany, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and Ukraine, also participated in the operation. France offered to send a team of specialists and equipment, but Thai authorities believed that adequate resources were already on site.

The ordeal captured the media's attention from around the world. Over a period of three weeks, articles relating to the incident dominated the top stories section at many major news publications.

Sports worldedit

FIFA, via a letter from its president Gianni Infantino to the president of the Football Association of Thailand, invited the children and coach to the World Cup final if circumstances allowed. The entire team was expected to remain hospitalised for at least a week, and watched the final on television instead. FC Barcelona invited the team to play in their international academy tournament in 2019 and to watch a first-team game at their home stadium Camp Nou. England and Manchester City F.C. defender Kyle Walker said he wanted to send them shirts, after spotting that one of the rescued boys was wearing a "Three Lions" jersey. In October 2018 the boys traveled to the UK as guests at Old Trafford for the Manchester United F.C. home match against Everton F.C. in the Premier League. The boys were invited by the IOC to the opening ceremony of the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires.