September 12, 2022
‘The Rescue’ documentary screening is Thursday
A 2021 National Geographic documentary based on the rescue of 12 young soccer players and their coach trapped in a remote underwater cave in Thailand for 18 days in June 2018 will be shown at 5 p.m. Thursday Sept. 15, in the SIU School of Law Auditorium. Snacks will be provided.
The event is free and open to the public. A special guest during “The Rescue” screening will be Thanet Natisri, a Marion restaurant owner whose work was crucial to the rescue mission. A Thailand native and a groundwater expert, Natisri was in Bangkok at the time working on a project pertaining to irrigation techniques, but was then asked by the military to assist with the rescue efforts.
Natisri’s job was to pump water out of the cave. But after assessing the situation, he and his team worked to block sinkholes in order to reduce the water level in the cave. Those efforts allowed the divers to safely extract the children and their coach. Natisri was on site until all were rescued.
The program is a collaborative effort of the Southern Illinois chapter of the United Nations Association USA, SIU Model United Nations registered student organization, and the SIU School of Law’s International and Immigration Law Society.