Psychological support during the final days — when the boys knew rescue was coming but did not know when, and when the death of Saman Kunan had been communicated to them — required specific care. How that communication was managed, and how the team responded to learning that someone had died trying to help them, is not documented in public sources in precise detail. The general accounts indicate that the SEALs and the doctor maintained the team’s composure and kept the focus on preparation.
When the extractions began, the SEALs supported the process from inside: preparing each boy for the dive, assisting with the fitting of equipment, keeping the remaining boys calm while the first groups were taken out. The last four boys and Coach Ekkapol left with the assurance that their escorts inside the cave would follow. The SEALs and the military doctor exited on July 10 as the final group.
Their dive through the flooded passages on the way out, after what they had experienced and after the physical demands of their weeks inside, was itself a significant undertaking. By all accounts, all five exited safely.
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## The Children’s Experience: What Is and Isn’t Known
The public record about what the boys experienced during the eighteen days underground is appropriately limited. The Thai government, the families, and the boys’ own advocates were explicit in their desire to protect the boys from the most intrusive dimensions of the global attention. What emerged in the period immediately after the rescue was mediated by those protective concerns.