Thai soccer player says English helped in cave rescue

By iNFOTEL
October 09 2018 03:31 PM

CP1554359326 — Ekkapol Chantawong, left, and Adul Sam-on, 14, participate in an event in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018. The coach and a member of the youth soccer team from Thailand that got trapped in a flooded cave appeared at an event in New York as they begin a short U.S. tour. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

NEW YORK – A member of the youth soccer team from Thailand that got trapped in a flooded cave spoke about the ordeal on a trip to New York.

During an event at the Asia Society on Tuesday, 14 -year-old Adul Sam-on (ah-DUHL’ sam-OHN) recalled the moment two British divers made it through a flooded tunnel to reach the group.

He knows limited English, but was able to call out “thirteen” when a diver asked how many people were trapped.

Sam-on’s teammates are in Buenos Aires, where they played a match against an Argentinian youth soccer team and participated in the opening ceremony of the Youth Olympic Games.

A dozen boys from the team were trapped with their coach in the flooded cave in northern Thailand for almost three weeks before they were rescued.