Two volunteer British divers who led the rescue of the boys’ soccer team trapped inside a Thailand cave this week downplayed their heroic efforts and brushed off suggestions that they should be knighted, according to a new report.
John Volanthen, 47, and Rick Stanton, 56, initially located the boys and their coach — whom not even special forces could find — and then led them two-and-a-half miles through a flooded, dungeon-like cave inside a mountain, The Daily Mail reported.
Now many are calling for the brave pair to be honored at Buckingham Palace.
Former Conservative Party treasurer Lord Ashcroft tweeted that the duo should be awarded the George Cross or the George Medal — which are given to reward acts of civilian courage.
But despite his selfless act, Volanthen insisted that he was not a national hero — and that anyone else would have done the same.
“It’s not like that – if you could do the same for someone else’s child, you would,” Volanthen, an IT consultant from Bristol, told the outlet. “The result is the important thing. The kids came out, the coach is good, the [Thai navy] Seals are good – job done.”
“I can’t explain why, but it’s not like that,” he added. “It’s just…it worked.”
Stanton, a retired Coventry firefighter, said that the rescue “seems to have lifted the whole country,” but gave all the credit to the soccer players themselves.
“It all went according to plan,” he said. “The boys did well.”
Volanthen and Stanton flew back to the UK after the rescue — despite the millions of Thai street parties in their honor, according to the report.
Volanthen’s mother, Jill, told the outlet that she is proud of her son — but “my sympathy is with the wife and family of the diver [Former Thai Navy SEAL Saman Gunan] who lost his life.”
Another British diver involved in the rescue, Jason Mallinson, 50, shared Volanthen and Stanon’s sentiments.
“We’re not heroes,” he told the Daily Mail. “It was a difficult mission but we succeeded and the results speak for themselves. I feel good – now it’s over. It will be good to get home.”
Mallinson’s mother, Anne, shared that her son “never wanted to be in the limelight.”
“That is exactly how he is – he has never wanted praise, he just sees it as something he has to do,” she said. “The fact there were children involved made this one extra special for him, and I can’t put into words my pride.”
The last four boys in the 12-member team — and their coach — were rescued on Tuesday from the cave where they’d been trapped by floodwaters for 18 days since going missing on June 23.