An Australian medical hero who rescued 12 children trapped in a Thai cave has revived the ordeal two years after injecting ketamine into a daring rescue project that he believes may have taken him to prison.
Adelaide anaesthetist Richard Harris played a central role in the 12-member Wild Boars football team, 11-17 year olds, and their assistant coach, 25, from the depths of Tham Luang Cave in Thailand in July 2018.
The football team had been trapped in the cave through emerging waters and had gone more than a week without food when rescuers first discovered them.
Dr. Harris moved to Thailand with former veterinarian and underground diving expert Craig Challen to help a team of a hundred divers led by British divers John Volanthen and Richard Stanton.
Dr. Harris, who became the Australian of 2019 for his efforts, had to calm the children so that the diving team could safely remove them from the cave; however, the doctor did not first think that the children would make it. alive.
Appearing on ABC’s Brush With Fame Tuesday night, Dr. Harris said he thought there was no chance of the plan succeeding.
You know, as an anaesthetist and caving diver, I can seriously think of a hundred tactics they wouldn’t survive, if the mask filled with water and drowned them in their own mask, if they died of hypothermia, they would die of cold,” he says.
On the first day of the mission, Dr. Harris gained a stern warning about his long-term if the rescue failed.
An FDFA representative downplayed it “in full disclosure”.
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Edited through Associated Newspapers Ltd