“I truly believe the intention of creating positive change is so important to the collective consciousness. When you have a group of people that have the intention and the capacity, talent and intelligence to actualize those intentions, then they have something really powerful.”
Jimmy Chin
The rescue missions to save 33 Chilean miners in Aug, 2010 and the 13 Wild Boars football team members in June, 2018 in Bangkok were accomplished brilliantly, under the clouds of utmost uncertainty. The entire world’s attention was drawn to these events. Billions followed the developments on daily basis with personal involvement and considerable anxiety. Large numbers of countries, organizations and individuals joined hands and pooled in their prowess to innovate solutions and accomplish what many believed to be impossible missions. These events are the greatest examples of the cohesive leadership and team dynamics to be recalled in extreme, time-crunch situations. Innovative solutions had to rapidly evolve to resolve these unique crises. these were also rare examples of universal brotherhood. Prayers were offered from different quarters through the medium of different religions. In my mind, the question remains unanswered, as to why these missions, involving relatively small groups of individuals, drew unprecedented attention in contrast to the short term concern shown to frequent cataclysms we witness routinely. I propose to analyze these events of great commonality, in totality. Besides the fact that the stories of these events unfolded over a period of time, what I have observed is perfect harmony in humanity, irrespective of cast, creed and nationality, with no discordance whatsoever. Once humanity can be harmonious with itself, nature, and the planet then we can make impossible, possible.
Wild Boars football team:
On June 23, 2018, 12 boys of the Thai youth football team the Wild Boars and their assistant coach
Chantawong, decided to go on a bicycle excursion into the Tham Luang cave, a favorite place for the team to visit following their routine football practice. They often ventured for several Kilometers in the cave. This time it was different, as continued heavy rainfall in the area began flooding the cave at an unexpectedly rapid rate. As in other previous visits, the boys parked their bikes and bags at the entrance. Their fun excursion became one of the most globally followed rescue attempts in several years. The teams’ anticipated hour-long visit to the cave grew into an ordeal of 2 weeks. I, and many others around the world learned that the previously unknown Tham Luang cave has a tendency to flood up to 16 feet high during the monsoon season. Together, we watched the reports daily, and prayed for the boys, and their would-be rescuers.
Inside, the team found itself trapped in the cave with extremely poor visibility, muddy water and a cold environment. Despite a sincere effort to get out of the cave, the team found themselves trapped deep inside the cave. Eventually they identified a shelf at about 4 Km from the entrance. The group deepened the shelf to 5 meters with the help of rock pieces to create a space large enough to huddle together and stay warm. Meanwhile, global media reported almost endlessly, that a flooded cave is a nightmare for even experienced cave divers to survive.
The Wild Boars, trapped in the cave, could not ask for a better leader than the coach Ake, a former monk, well versed with the art of meditation. His calm temperament and lessons of meditation helped children to stay calm and disciplined. The key factor to their sustenance was application of breathing techniques to ration air and conserve their strength in the already oxygen-depleted environment. They learned to survive on water alone, sourced from dripping cave walls. The group judiciously used what lights they had to beat the pitch-dark environment.
Outside the cave, a full-blown rescue operation was in progress, lead by the Thai Navy Seals. Their assessment revealed that for the teams immediate rescue, the environment was very unfavorable. Every hour, it was becoming worse, with heavy rainfall and consistently rising water levels. Pumps were brought in to lower the unrelenting water. Within hours, the rescue team was quickly joined by U.S Air Force rescue specialists, divers from the UK, Belgium, Australia, Scandinavia and other countries. It had become an international search and rescue operation.
On July 2, just over 8 days after the boys were reported as missing, there was still no trace of the boys. Working as a team in the dangerous, dark waters, British divers John Volannthenn and Rick Stanton, emerged into an air pocket deep within Tham Luang Cave. Amazingly, the rescuers could smell the boys before they saw or heard them at their unexpected refuge. Their torch illuminated an electrifying site, as thirteen boys emerged from darkness. When news of the team’s discovery was announced, along with the diver’s almost ghostly video of the boys, the whole world became even more captivated by the unfolding story.
The boys and their coach were quickly joined by a military medic and a Thai Navy SEAL, who
stayed with them for the rest of the ordeal. On medical advice, they were put on
a special diet of medicated liquid food enriched with vitamins and minerals.
Locating the boys alive was a major achievement for the rescue team, but the real work was just beginning. Reports of a rescue timetable ranged from days to even months, due to the rising monsoon waters and inability of young boys to navigate the raging underground waters. Divers even simulated the situation in a swimming pool, developing and practicing the best possible methods for safely extracting each child- and their coach. No one thought it would be easy. Elon Musk, an innovative entrepreneur, volunteered a kid size submarine developed by his engineers in Silicon Valley within 8-hours, as an independent effort. While a valiant idea, it was deemed unsuitable to rescue the team by the divers on scene.
On July 7, two weeks after the boys were trapped, the rescue team made a snap decision to pull the team out. The basis of the collective decision was because of the knowledge that the cave usually flooded to its max levels on July 10, as it regularly did year after year. These experienced cave divers made their way, swimming for hours in pitch dark water that was chilling cold. In the turbulent, cloudy waters, they carried their precious anesthetized human cargo, feeling their way along using rope guides. One-by-one, each boy and their coach were safely returned to the surface, a stay in the hospital, and to the love of their families. I, and the whole world breathed a collective sigh if relief! One young Thai Navy Seal died when the air tank he was using ran out. His was the only casualty suffered in the rescue.
Once humanity can be harmonious with itself, nature, and the planet then we can make impossible, possible.
“The world is a projection of our collective consciousness. If our collective consciousness reaches a place of peace, harmony, laughter and love, it will be different world”
Deepak Chopra
Mahendra Bhandari MD, MBA
drmbhandari.com
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