The mother of one of the 12 boys rescued from flooded Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district disclosed details Thursday of how her son had survived the ordeal.
Aikhan Wiboonrungruang, the 33-year-old mother of Chanin, also known as Titan, the 11-year old and youngest member of the Wild Boars football team, said she had talked to her son from behind a glass isolation barrier while he was recovering at Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital, along with the other teammates.
She said her son told her the team entered the cave for fun and intended to spend only an hour there so they did not take along any food or snacks after their football training session.
However, a flash flood caused by heavy rain forced them to venture deeper inside the cave.
"After the first three nights with no food in the cave, my son felt extreme hunger and cried. He had to rely only on water dripping from the rock. It was very cold at night, and pitch-dark. They had to lie huddled together," Ms Aikhan said. The coach told them to meditate to help ease their hunger and conserve energy, she said
After visiting his son at the hospital, Banphot Konkham, 45, father of Duangthep Phromthep, 13, said the coach used a torchlight to find water dripping from the cave ceiling to drink.
