Everyone was glued on to the updates of the rescue mission of Thai Football Team 'Wild Boars' boys and their coach from the Tham Luang Caves. The group of 13 visited the caves for an outing but got trapped within due to the heavy downpour. A mammoth scale rescue operation was conducted in three phases to rescue all the boys safely. World over, people kept praying and appreciating the efforts of the rescue officials who strived hard for hours together to make it successful. But few would be aware that engineers from India too had a significant contribution to the evacuation technology. The technical support in this rescue technology was given by two engineers from Pune's Kirloskar Brothers' Limited's (KBL), a pump manufacturing company. FIFA Boss Invites Thai Cave Boys to World Cup Final.

Prasad Kulkarni from Sangli district and engineer Shyam Shukla from Pune were the only two Indians present at the rescue site. These members of the Kirloskar company helped in the de-watering of the flooded caves. The two experts reached Thailand on July 5 and helped in the technical aspects of the dewatering process. But the rescue process had its challenges. Talking about the operation, Kulkarni was quoted in a newspaper report, "Our work was to remove water from the cave, which has sharp 90° turns. The incessant rainfall posed a huge problem as the water level just couldn’t recede. The cave is in a 20-sqkm hill, which was dark and damp. Its topography is such that even scuba divers could not help at times."

The children were strong enough throughout the ordeal. The rescue mission was carried out in phases with 4 boys rescued on each day. In the final phase, carried out on July 10, all the remaining 5 people were rescued. It is commendable how the efforts of the entire team of international cave divers and experts collectively brought success in getting all of them out.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 11, 2018 09:46 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).