With the world focussed on the cave rescue of the trapped Thai boys, the ball by ball account has become a life-positive story in a crowd of conflict and political reportage. After 12 days and with rapidly receding hopes — last heard oxygen levels in the subterranean cave were dipping low and a fresh spell of rains predicted more flooding — all nations are stretching every limb for what could be the greatest human endeavour of our time. We do not know whether the untrained boys will be able to dive in perilously murky waters or whether rescue workers can drill an escape chute through the slippery and rained out rocks. But it is a chance that the world is ready to take.
Football stars like Ronaldo are cheering them, the FIFA president has even invited them to watch the World Cup finals and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is doing everything possible to aid their extraction. Will fate deal a cruel handIJ If the boys could hold out 12 days of blackout, don’t they deserve a chance to get back in the land of the livingIJ But as everybody came together to save mankind as it were, the danger suddenly thickened like black clouds. Perhaps it is a test of human will. Or perhaps a reason enough for the world to open its eyes that survival and not destruction is always the bigger story.