Tham Luang-Khun Nam Nang Non National Park in Chiang Rai has officially opened Chamber 3 for visitors to see how the rescue mission for the 12 members of the "Wild Boar" football team and their coach, trapped in the cave for 18 days five years ago, took place.
Sessions in Chamber 3 will be limited to groups of no more than 10 people and must be led by one forest official and one local guide. The tour will last about three hours and only two groups will be allowed to visit the chamber each day.
Chamber 3 is about 800 metres from the entrance. The Wild Boar football team was stuck in Chamber 9 which is about 2.4km from the entrance of the cave. The area after Chamber 3 is not yet open for public visits.
To visit Chamber 3, each visitor must be fit and healthy due to the slippery floor, steep path, and sharp rocks along the route. At some points there is only enough space for the group to go through in single file as the walls are so narrow.
Noppadon Uppakham, one of the rescue team members at that time and a guide during a recent media visit, explained that visitors will learn of the hardships that many endured to save the 13 football players and their coach.
Mr Noppadon was part of the guide ropes team for divers to bring oxygen tanks to Chamber 3.
The ropes, electrical wires, communication cables and oxygen-carrying tubing to add air inside the cave remain for visitors to see.
Another highlight is a demonstration of how rescuers transported each boy via a stretcher inside Chamber 3.
Mario Wild, one of the cave rescue team members, remembered that things were difficult at the beginning of the rescue mission due to poor management, but later things improved leading to mission's success. He remembered well the moment when he saw the first rescued boy.
“He was wrapped carefully so I didn’t know whether he was still alive. But I felt relieved when the medical team gave a thumbs-up gesture as a sign that he was still with us,” he said.
Chamber 3 opened to the public on Friday and will close during the rainy season.
The entrance fee is 950 baht for Thai tourists and 1,500 baht for foreign visitors, excluding other fees for safety equipment hire.
