A year after rescue, cave boys in Thailand live fame without abandoning humble origins

Listen to this article

 

They have contracted with Netflix for documentary production, but still live in a poor village and play football with their coach

Leer en español: Los niños de la cueva en Tailandia viven la fama sin abandonar sus raíces

In the small and poor Thai town of Mae Sai, near the border with Myanmar and Laos, the rescued cave boys in Thailand live like the other local teens. They live with their families, go to school, and play soccer. In addition to the routine, their lives would be ordinary, and in fact, they live as if they were not famous, even after closing a contract with Netflix to produce a miniseries about what they lived precisely one year ago.

They are called "cave boys," twelve adolescents who, in 2018, spent 17 days in a dangerous complex of caves flooded by heavy rains. The whole world followed their dramatic rescue that included the mobilization of international efforts until the attempt was successful.

Also read: Argentine soccer giant River opens stadium to homeless as winter bites

At the time, the boys were between the ages of 11 and 16 years and were part of the amateur soccer team Javalis Selvagens. Today, they live in the same simple houses with their families and continue to train under the guidance of coach Ekapol Chanthawong. The young coach was also stuck with them at the Tham Luang cave complex, which stretches for about 10 kilometers under a mountain in Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand.

But neither they nor their families can publicly comment on what they have lived as part of the contract with Netflix. They have also become a subject of books.

LatinAmerican Post Staff