NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Editorial: Thai boys have a story to inspire an overcautious age

NZ Herald
11 Jul, 2018 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Ekapol Chanthawong, left, the 25-year-old coach of the trapped boys of the Wild Boars football team. Photo / Thai Navy Seals

Ekapol Chanthawong, left, the 25-year-old coach of the trapped boys of the Wild Boars football team. Photo / Thai Navy Seals

Editorial

COMMENT:

Now we look forward to the book and the movie. And we should.

The story of 12 boys and their football coach, trapped for two weeks underground and rescued with the whole world willing them to survive, will live long in popular memory and bear repeated retelling for the goodness it represents.

It is always good to discover how much we can care for people a long way away.

The mountains and forests of northern Thailand are a long way from most of the millions of people who waited anxiously for news of the boys' rescue. But every country has caves, everywhere boys are adventurous, especially in groups.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Everyone can feel for them when they realised rising water was blocking their return and they had to go on, blindly, looking for another way out. The terror they must have faced when they knew there was no way out, and that possibly nobody could find them, is one of many elements of the story yet to be told.

Hopefully, this will remain a story without blame. The team's young coach, the last to be rescued, will have questions to answer. But possibly not from the relieved parents of the boys in his charge.

Some of them have said they do not want him blamed and they are right. Obviously he made a mistake and we do not live in forgiving times.

Had this happened here it is all too likely there would be calls for an inquiry and pressure on the police to bring a prosecution. Thailand may be different and that can teach us something.

The times are also deeply risk-averse. The precautionary principle prevails wherever health and safety, let alone life, may be at risk.

Discover more

Entertainment

Thailand cave movie: Hollywood producers already on the scene

10 Jul 08:15 PM
Business

Elon Musk hits back after submarine dismissed by Thai rescuers

10 Jul 08:46 PM
Travel

Thai 'Wild Boars' cave rescue celebrated in cryptic cartoon

10 Jul 11:00 PM
World

How the boys and their coach escaped the Thai cave

11 Jul 02:40 AM

Death is more distant from the lives of current generations than it was when infant mortality was more common, diseases more deadly and wars took a toll.

These days when life expectancy has risen rapidly, many can no longer bear even to call death by its name. People no longer die, they "pass".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

These boys, aged 11-16, have had to confront their fears and make their way underwater to survive. Despite the assistance and assurance of accompanying experienced divers, they had to fight the urge to panic, breathe slowly, move carefully along a rope, seeing nothing through their face mask except dim headlamp beams in dark water full of sediment.

But as soon as the emerged from that alien environment they were enveloped in the precautionary principle. They are to remain in seclusion for a week.

Thailand's permanent secretary at its Public Health Ministry said they did not know what infections the boys might have "because we have never experienced this kind of issue from a deep cave".

Their families can see them behind glass. In two days, if medical tests show nothing of concern, their parents will be allowed to enter the isolation area dressed in sterilised clothing but must stay 2m away from the boys.

It is a story that has not finished with their rescue and the relief of their families. There is a great deal these boys and their rescuers will have to tell and a great many writers and dramatists will be keen to help them tell it.

As they grow up, knowing how lucky they are to be alive, may their stories continue to have a happy ending.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Air NZ flight to New York diverted due to thunderstorms, others cancelled

04 Jul 10:53 PM
Premium
New ZealandUpdated

Flatting wars: The male students' struggle against 'unwritten rule' bias claims

04 Jul 10:00 PM
New Zealand

Massive strike on Ukraine, wet weather, slips continue | NZ Herald News Update: July 5, 2025

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Air NZ flight to New York diverted due to thunderstorms, others cancelled

Air NZ flight to New York diverted due to thunderstorms, others cancelled

04 Jul 10:53 PM

Some travellers have had to spend an unscheduled night in Washington DC.

Premium
Flatting wars: The male students' struggle against 'unwritten rule' bias claims

Flatting wars: The male students' struggle against 'unwritten rule' bias claims

04 Jul 10:00 PM
Massive strike on Ukraine, wet weather, slips continue | NZ Herald News Update: July 5, 2025

Massive strike on Ukraine, wet weather, slips continue | NZ Herald News Update: July 5, 2025

Premium
100,000 homes built in seven years – does Auckland still have a housing crisis?

100,000 homes built in seven years – does Auckland still have a housing crisis?

04 Jul 09:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP