The Hero And How He Helped Dive And Rescue Thai Cave Children

Hero of the Thai cave rescue, Douglas, left. Angela, centre. Dive school instructor, Jon, right.

Douglas is wearing a red top with the letters DIWA, the diving world association. Jon is wearing heavy diving gear, including an oxygen tank on his back.

Photo by Trevor Sharot.

I had the privilege of hearing how Singapore's hero, Douglas Dylan Yeo, helped dive and rescue the Thai cave children. He is a tall man of memorable appearance with a rugged face, his hair half shaved for convenience and a tiny topknot.

Douglas runs a diving centre in Singapore. Singapore has conscription so when he left school he want into the Singapore Air Force where he learned a lot of things, presumably including teamwork.

He has worked in Singapore and Thailand. His knowledge of the Thai language must have helped.

Diving Skills & Challenges
His experience includes 26 years of diving. Challenging jobs included underwater photography; and cleaning off a ship's underside, working in the dark underwater, in dirty water.

As a result he can handle darkness and being in and working in a confined space. The phrases 'every cloud has a silver lining' and 'everything in your life has a reason' came to my mind when I heard this.

"Normal recreational diving is quite different from what was required in the rescue operation," he told a group of members and friends of the Leng Kee Advanced Toastmasters Club. When you dive for fun "it is usually in a big space with clear visibility," he said. I thought: and usually for fewer hours, too, and you can come back if you think you have had enough.

Did Having A Family Help or Hinder Him?
Douglas has three sons. At the start of the Thai cave drama, one of his sons woke him to tell him that the TV news was reporting about the boys trapped in the Tham Luang cave system in Thailand. For some people, having a wife and being the only son and having school age sons might be reasons for not going out on a dangerous rescue mission. What encouraged Douglas to go? His sons encouraged him. In their eyes, he was already the diving expert, the potential hero. Having sons of his own made him sympathize with the boys and their parents and grandparents.

The TV reported that after the boys went missing, their bicycles and backpacks were found at the entrance to the caves. The Thais needed divers.

He immediately booked a plane ticket at his own expense and packed his diving equipment including a helmet, rope, a diving knife to cut away obstructions, a torch, a battery and a chemical light stick. (You break it and it makes light.)

When he arrived at the cave entrance site, he was prepared to do any job to help, not just diving, anything, cooking food or cleaning toilets. (So different from the caste system and the unions which insist that anything outside their remit is 'not my job'.)

The same applied to all the other helpers. Thousands had gathered. Some were cooking, others donating clean clothes, others running a laundry with washing machines.

When the monsoon rain increased and government pumps could not get the water out of the caves fast enough, a man with three giant pumps drove them across the country to help.

During question time a member of the audience, David, asked whether this was something special about Thai society which others could learn, because he doubted whether people in the city of Singapore would do the same.

Someone suggested it was just because children were involved.

I disagree. I have seen similar scenes of the public helping in major disasters such as rail crashes in the UK, in the Cockney humour during the Blitz.

Japan has been admired for the way everybody was orderly after a major disaster and looting did not occur.

Even so, many were impressed by the Thais' co-operation, including the woman whose paddy field was flooded by the pumped water, sweeping away her season's crop. She refused to accept compensation from the government because they had already spent so much.

We were all also impressed by the bravery and focus of the divers. Douglas told us how he meditated to help himself stay calm. In a cave with diminishing air, you need to breathe as shallowly as possible. You also need to sip water to save it.

The rescue mission was a success because of the determination and concentration and bravery of the divers and the help from all over the country.

 If you want to learn to dive, Douglas and his team are at the Queenstown Swimming Pool in Singapore.

You can watch on YouTube the video which Douglas showed us. The event was organized by Leng Kee Advanced Toastmasters Club.

USEFUL Websites
You Tube video of Thai cave rescue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_kiX0uUDNI

www.diwadiving.com

https://www.facebook.com/Queenstown-Swimming-Complex-170284646346335/

toastmasters International Find a Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/Find-a-Club

Leng Kee Advanced Toastmasters Club on the Find-a-Club website
https://www.toastmasters.org/Find-a-Club/00006551-00006551

Leng Kee Advanced Toastmasters Club on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/lengkeeadvanced/

Author: Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. In Singapore I am a member of
Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Club, and
Tampines Changkat Advanced Toastmasters Club and in London, England I am a member of Harrovians Club, and
HOD Club.
I have many more posts on Singapore, London, other countries, learning languages and travel. Please share links to your favourite posts.