THE HARROWING BEHIND-THE-SCENES ACCOUNT OF THE BOYS, THE COACH, AND THE HEROES WHO SAVED THEM

On June 23, 2018, twelve boys from a Thai youth soccer team and their twenty-four-year-old coach went missing in the Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand. Trapped inside the cave by monsoon rains, the teammates survived in darkness for ten days before being located by a pair of British cave divers who swam through a mile of narrow, flooded tunnels to find them. In the days that followed, millions of people around the world watched breathlessly as an elite group of international rescuers raced the clock and risked their own lives to ferry the soccer team to safety.

In The Boys in the Cave, ABC News Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman, who covered this story on the ground, offers the untold story of the entire ordeal—tracing the boys’ initial journey into the cave, the furious search and near-drownings in the cave’s tunnels, the tragic death of a Thai Navy SEAL, and finally the rescue that brought all the boys out safely. Through dozens of interviews, Gutman examines how a mission without precedent required drugging and binding the boys, some of whom nearly died on the way out. From the British and Australian civilian rescue divers to the Thai Navy SEALs to a United States Air Force Special Tactics team, The Boys in the Cave reveals the full cast of unsung heroes who converged on the cave in Thailand’s “Golden Triangle” to pull off a rescue even they believed was likely to fail. In addition, Gutman explores how the boys endured the cave for so long, relying on their wits and their unique bonds with each other and their coach.

Including sixteen pages of photos, what emerges is an uplifting and untold story of teamwork, bravery, and hope that defies possibility, reminding us all of the power that exists when people from around the world join forces to solve the impossible.