One of the divers who helped save 12 young footballers from a cave in Thailand has recalled how those involved did not have time to focus on emotion, only "the nuts and bolts of the rescue".
Speaking at the UK premiere of Thirteen Lives, which follows the events of the rescue, Richard Stanton said he and his team had to "write the operational manuals" for the mission in real-time due to its unprecedented nature.
The rescue from the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand in 2018 made headlines around the world.
The boys, aged between 11 and 16 who were members of the Wild Boars youth football team, had cycled with their coach to the caves to explore when they became marooned inside.
One rescue diver, former Thai Navy Seal Saman Kunan, died during the mission. Another, Thai Navy Seal Beirut Pakbara, died in 2019 from a blood infection he contracted during the rescue.
The heroism of those involved is celebrated in Thirteen Lives, which stars Colin Farrell and Viggo Mortensen as British divers John Volanthen and Richard Stanton, respectively, and Joel Edgerton as Australian diver Richard Harris.
Recalling the events, Stanton said: "When we arrived in Thailand, it was completely chaotic.
"It was clear that we had previous experience that could probably make a difference.
"It was like something none of us had ever experienced before, we really did write the operational manuals as we went along.
"We didn't have time to be thinking about anything but the nuts and bolts of the rescue, not necessarily emotions."
Saluting Thirteen Lives director Ron Howard, he added: "As far as I was concerned, Apollo 13 was a fantastic film, very relevant, real-life dramatic rescue, just like Thailand, so it was the perfect choice of director from our point of view."
Howard said that there had been risks taken "on so many different levels" during the operation and he had tried to "dramatise as much of that as I could".
"What I began to recognise as we were working on the movie is that there are a lot of reasons to be fearful in a situation like that; the physical, but also the emotional," he said.
"What scar tissue emotionally can you take away from an event like this, especially if things don't go well?
"Politics, career decisions, these things - these people took risks on so many different levels to make this happen and I tried to dramatise as much of that as I could in this film."
Thirteen Lives is released on Prime Video in Ireland on 5 August.
Thai cave rescue: How it unfolded
Source: Press Association
