One of the unsung heroes of the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue, Suratin Chaichomphu, known affectionately as ‘Khwan the Driller’, has been bedridden for months following a motorcycle accident that left him paralysed.
Mr Suratin, 59, led the groundwater drilling team that helped drain floodwater from Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai during the daring mission that saved 12 young footballers and their coach. The veteran groundwater engineer, once hailed for his crucial behind-the-scenes role, is now under the close care of his wife and family at their home in Mae On district, Chiang Mai.
According to his wife, Piyamas Pratharnchai, 48, Mr Suratin suffered a broken neck and severed nerves in the cervical spine in a crash in Tak province on May 24, leaving him unable to move. The family business – groundwater drilling and underground water management business – has since lost about 70% of its income.
The family has sold three 10-wheel trucks to cover medical expenses and is now seeking help for a hospital bed and electric wheelchair to facilitate his care and monthly visits to a hospital.
‘Every month, we have to take Mr Suratin to the hospital, and using an ambulance service has costs. Lifting him into a vehicle is impossible as there are only women and children in the house,’ Ms Piyamas said.
Mr Suratin, with over 30 years’ experience in groundwater engineering and former president of the Thai Groundwater Association, played a key role in reducing water levels inside the cave by drilling over 100 metres deep to redirect floodwater underground – a vital step that allowed an international team of rescuers to reach the trapped boys.
Despite his condition, Mr Suratin remains in good spirits and has started speaking again after months of silence in hospital. He sent a message of encouragement to Vernon Unsworth, 70, the British cave explorer and fellow Tham Luang rescuer now battling a lung infection, wishing him a speedy recovery.
‘If I get better, I want to visit him myself,’ Mr Suratin said, adding that he also hopes to meet Rick Stanton and John Volanthen, the British cave divers who once rescued him and his son from inside the cave during the operation.
‘I’m deeply grateful to both gentlemen. We were trapped in Chamber 3 during the rescue operation; if they had not come to help, we would not have survived to this day,’ Mr Suratin said.
After losing the family’s breadwinner, on June 9 this year Ms Piyamas petitioned the Royal Household Bureau to receive her husband as a patient under royal patronage and is awaiting approval.
‘Everyone in the family still hopes his condition will improve,’ Ms Piyamas said. ‘But if not, I just want him to pass away with dignity.’