In 2018, 12 boys from the same football team decided to spend an afternoon with their coach exploring the Tham Luang caves in northern Thailand. When heavy rain flooded the caves, what was supposed to be a fun excursion turned into a massive international rescue operation that transfixed the world.

GEOGRAPHICAL EXPERTS, academics and local people have pitched in to provide scientific data about the Tham Luang cave network to support the official rescue mission for the youth football team believed trapped inside.