The drilling attempts encountered the fundamental problem of karst geology: the rock above the cave was not a uniform mass but a structure riddled with cavities, variable densities, and unpredictable obstacles. Bore holes that penetrated the surface rock would suddenly encounter voids, change their trajectory, or hit obstructions that stopped progress. No vertical shaft was successfully connected to the team’s location during the rescue operation.
The combined result of these parallel approaches was that by early July 2018, the rescue planners understood that the team would have to come out through the flooded passages. There was no other viable option. The question was how.
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## July 2: The Discovery
Stanton and Volanthen made their breakthrough dive on July 2. They had been systematically extending their guideline through the flooded passages beyond Sam Yaek, pushing further in each dive as conditions permitted. On July 2, they pushed approximately 750 meters past Sam Yaek and surfaced in the air pocket at Nern Nom Sao.
What their headlamps revealed was thirteen figures on the mud shelf. The boys and their coach were alive.
The first contact between the divers and the team was mediated by Adul Sam-on, the multilingual 14-year-old who was the only member of the team with enough English to communicate with the British divers. The exchange was simple: the divers confirmed the team was alive and that help was coming. The team confirmed that all thirteen were present. The specific words reported in multiple accounts — Adul asking “where you come from?” and Stanton responding “we are from England” — became among the most widely quoted lines of the entire rescue.