Overview: Follow the harrowing operation to rescue 12 boys stranded in a flooded cave in Thailand, and discover the scientific ingenuity that made the rescue possible.

DVD Verdict: In June/July 2018, an international team of cave divers endeavored to rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach stranded in a flooded cave in Thailand.

As we all know by now, this widely publicized cave rescue managed to successfully (although not easily and not without a death) extricate members of a junior football team trapped in Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand.

Twelve members of the team, aged eleven to seventeen, and their 25-year-old assistant coach entered the cave on the 23rd of June after football practice.

Shortly afterwards, heavy rains partially flooded the cave, trapping the group inside.

Efforts to locate the group were hampered by rising water levels and strong currents, and no contact was made for more than a week. The rescue effort expanded into a massive operation amid intense worldwide public interest.

On the 2nd of July, after advancing through narrow passages and muddy waters, British divers John Volanthen and Richard Stanton found the group alive on an elevated rock about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the cave mouth.

Rescue organizers discussed various options for extracting the group, including whether to teach them basic diving skills to enable their early rescue, wait until a new entrance was found or drilled, or wait for the floodwaters to subside at the end of the monsoon season months later.

After days of pumping water from the cave system and a respite from rain, the rescue teams hastened to get everyone out before the next monsoon rain, which was expected to bring a potential 52 mm (2.0 in) of additional rainfall and was predicted to start around the 11th of July.

Between the 8th and 10th of July, all of the boys and their coach were rescued from the cave by an international team. The rescue effort involved more than 10,000 people, including over 100 divers, many rescue workers, representatives from about 100 governmental agencies, 900 police officers and 2,000 soldiers, and required ten police helicopters, seven police ambulances, more than 700 diving cylinders, and the pumping of more than a billion liters of water out of the caves!

Sadly, there was one fatality. Saman Kunan, a 37-year-old former Thai Navy SEAL who died of asphyxiation on the 6th of July while returning to a staging base in the cave after delivering supplies of air.

In 'Nova: Thai Cave Rescue,' we follow the harrowing operation and discover the scientific ingenuity that made the rescue possible. We also get to hear how rescuers explored every option - from pumping out water, to drilling a new exit - to ultimately cave-diving with the children. This is, without a shadow of a doubt, must-see-TV! This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.