Tham Luang Khun Nam Nang Non

Tham Luang is a cave system over ten kilometres long running under Doi Nang Non on the Myanmar border. In June 2018 a junior football team of twelve boys and their assistant coach went in after training, monsoon rain flooded the passages behind them, and they were trapped four kilometres inside for eighteen days. British cave divers found them alive on day nine, and an international operation of over ten thousand people extracted them by sedating each and diving them out through flooded sumps over three days. Saman Kunan, a former Thai Navy SEAL, died placing air tanks during the operation, and another SEAL died later of an infection contracted in the cave. The cave is closed to visitors and remains so. What is open is the forest park around it: a memorial statue of Saman Kunan, a museum on the rescue, the entrance chamber area, and the emerald pools of Khun Nam Nang Non nearby.

What's there

• The memorial - the statue of Saman Kunan, who died during the operation.
• The museum - the account of the 2018 rescue and the international effort.
• The cave entrance area - the mouth and approach; the system itself is closed.
• The emerald pools - the spring-fed water of Khun Nam Nang Non nearby.

When to go

November to February. The cave interior is closed and there is no prospect of entering it. The site is treated locally as a memorial as much as an attraction.

Good to know

The cave is closed - you cannot go in, and visitors expecting to are turned back. Two people died in the rescue and the site is treated with corresponding seriousness. Interpretation in English is partial.

Nearby

Mae Sai and the Myanmar border crossing are north; Doi Tung is west.

Key facts