ST. LOUIS — A key player in the Thailand cave rescue arrived back home Wednesday night after he spent weeks helping to save 12 soccer players and their coach.
Thanet Natisri, from Marion, Ill., landed at St. Louis Lambert International airport at 9:30 p.m. after 30 hours of travel from Thailand and two months in the country.
He owns a Thai-D restaurant with his wife, but he's also a groundwater expert who spends months at a time bringing clean drinking water to people who need it in Thailand. He was already in the country doing that charity work when the government called him in to help when the crisis began.
He led a team that had to keep the water out of the cave.
“This mission is one of the most impossible thing. Nobody ever done it [sic] before, and I'm glad that we did it really good and everyone is safe,” Natisri said.
He says he is looking forward to sleeping soundly, knowing that the mission is accomplished.
