Diver Who Helped Rescue Thai Cave Boys Gets Trapped in Tennessee Cave
RESCUER RESCUED
Reuters / Athit Perawongmetha
One of the divers who took part in the heroic effort to save a junior soccer team from a cave in Thailand last year has been rescued himself after he became trapped in a U.S. cave for over a day. Josh Bratchley was part of a team of British cave diving experts who won praise from around the world after saving 12 Thai schoolboys and their soccer coach last summer. Alarms were raised for him after he failed to return to the surface with the rest of his party after they left a cave in Jackson County, Tennessee, on Tuesday afternoon. Expert divers were brought in from Arkansas and Florida and a rescue dive began early Wednesday evening. Bratchley was found and saved around an hour later. “He was awake, alert and oriented,” said rescue official Derek Woolbright. “His only request when he got to the surface was that he wanted some pizza.” Last year, Bratchley was decorated by the Queen for his part in the Thai cave rescue.