The monk, who was trapped in a flooded cave in Noen Maprang district of Thailand’s Phitsanuloke province, was rescued and brought out safe and sound today (Wednesday) by divers.

A team of divers, from the Puen Pung Yamyak Foundation of the Thai Red Cross Society, which gained experience in flooded cave diving during the dramatic rescue of a football team from the Khun Nam Nang Non in Chiang Rai in 2019, was assigned the task of extracting the monk.

The team walked about 400 metres into the cave, up to the flooded sump, which was about four metres deep and 15 metres long. They dived through the sump into a chamber, where the monk had taken refuge while on a pilgrimage.

Aided by the divers, the monk put on SCUBA gear and swam through the flooded sump to safety.

Appearing tired but safe, the monk was then taken to the provincial hospital for a medical check-up and to recuperate.