Thailand cave rescue news: Hero Brit diver reveals how he lost guide rope underwater for four terrifying minutes while guiding boy to safety

Hatty Collier15 July 2018

A British diver involved in the daring rescue mission to save the football team trapped in a Thailand cave has revealed how he lost a guide rope underwater for four terrifying minutes with zero visibility.

Jason Mallinson, 50, and fellow cave diver Chris Jewell, 35, who between them rescued seven of the 12 boys from the Tham Luang cave complex, have described the high-risk mission in detail and just how close it came to disaster.

Mr Mallinson, a cave diver of nearly 30 years, is on the British Cave Rescue Council’s list of experts to summon in a UK or global emergency, and was asked alongside Mr Jewell to join colleagues Rick Stanton and John Volanthen in Thailand to help rescue the boys.

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, the divers said that plans to leave the boys inside the cave until the end of the four-month monsoon season would have ended in certain death and that contrary to media reports, the football coach was not the last one out of the cave but the ninth.

British cave divers, Rick Stanton (centre), Chris Jewell (left), and Chairman of the British Cave Rescue Council Peter Dennis speak to the media at a news conference at Heathrow Airport, having helped in the rescue of the 12 boys in Thailand, in London
REUTERS

Mr Jewell told the newspaper he lost his grip on the rope guide while leading one of the last boys to safety: “I thought ‘aah bit of a problem but I’ll just reach up for it’ so I was sweeping with my arms to pick up the dive line but could not find it.”

 Rescue personnel during the rescue operation for members of the "Wild Boars" Thai youth football team inside the Tham Luang cave
AFP/Getty Images

He explained that, with his heart thumping, he cast around in the silty water for four minutes before grabbing onto an electrical cable that he thought would lead him to safety.

Mr Jewell ended up back in the previous Chamber (4) with the boy and waited for his colleague Mr Mallinson, who was bringing up the rear with the final boy, to arrive before following them out.

Diver Chris Jewell, left, from the rescue mission, which helped to save 12 schoolboys and their football coach from a flooded cave in Thailand, arrives back at London's Heathrow Airport
PA

“If you never find that line again, the outcome will never be good. We were lucky,” he told the newspaper.

 Rescuers hold one of the boys as they are stretched out of the cave 
AP

The divers also described how they had practised the rescue mission with some children in a nearby swimming pool.

Thai boys and football coach send a message from hospital

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The boys and football coach, wearing neoprene wetsuits and full-face masks with waterproof seals, were sedated as they were led to safety under the surface of the water each tethered to one of the divers.

Mr Jewell said they were “incredibly brave” and that he never saw “any signs of panic from any of them.”

Thailand Cave Rescue - In pictures

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The divers also revealed how Thai authorities had rejected suggestions from the Britons on the rescue mission to dive the boys out, until the death of ex-Navy SEAL diver Saman Kunan, who died inside one of the tunnels.

Father-of-one Mr Mallinson, from Huddersfield, whose day job is as a self-employed rope access worker, said it was a wake-up call for the Thai authorities who had hoped the boys would last inside the cave until the rain subsided in October.

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