On a hot day in June 2018, 12 boys and their football coach headed down to the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in northern Thailand for a picnic. The cave was like a playground for the local children; they would go there to explore after practice before cycling home for dinner. But not this time. When early monsoon rains caused the cave to flood, the children and their coach found themselves trapped in a pitch-black chamber four kilometres deep. As the world’s media descended and the drama unfolded over 18 nerve-wracking days, few would have guessed that two gruff blokes from Britain would be the ones to rescue them.
But one man, at least, was not surprised. “We knew the mission had our names all over it,” says 60-year-old former firefighter Rick Stanton. He and 50-year-old IT consultant John Volanthen, who both cave dive for fun, were the first divers to reach the children. “We’re…
