“Body odor” revealed as reason divers found Thai youth soccer team
The British diver said that finding the Thai soccer team in the cave was not a coincidence. His team tracked the boys through body odor.
Two British divers Rick Stanton (right) and John Volanthen (Photo: Reuters)
InterviewBBCOn July 12, British diver John Volanthen said they used their keen sense of smell to find the Thai youth soccer team trapped in Tham Luang cave.
"Some media outlets have said that finding the children was just luck, but I want to say that's not necessarily the case," Volanthen said, dismissing earlier reports that divers were only lucky to find the team after running out of ropes along the cave and were forced to surface.
| The moment Thai special forces rescued the young soccer team |
The diver added: "Our method in this situation is that we will swim along the underwater passage in the cave, whenever there is space above we will surface, shout and smell. In this case, we smelled the children's bodies before we saw or heard them."
"The video (of the moment the team was found) that you see is only part of the story. What you can't see is that we had taken off most of our equipment and were ready to go up and find the kids," Volanthen continued.
The 12 boys, aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach have been trapped in the flooded Tham Luang cave since June 23. Two British divers found them alive on a rocky outcrop about 4km from the cave entrance on the evening of July 2.
After finding the children, the rescue team needed more than 5 days before starting the rescue operation from July 8. The 3-day rescue operation helped 13 members of the football team to be brought out safely.