Timeline: The full story of the Thai cave rescue

It was late afternoon on a humid Saturday in June and Prayuth Jetiyanukorn, the abbot at a temple in Mae Sai, northern Thailand, was angry.

Ekapol Chanthawong, his concierge, had not returned to finish his shift after a coaching session with the Wild Boars children's football team. But as night fell, anger shifted to worry. Chanthawong, 25, a conscientious and reserved young man, normally left work at this time to take care of his elderly grandmother.

By 8pm, the frantic parents of the team's players, aged 11-16, arrived at the gates of the Phrathat Doi Wao temple. "Where are our sons?" they pleaded.

It would be 10 days until they learnt the answer.

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Deep under the Doi Nang Non mountain on the Thai-Burmese border, the six-mile Tham Luang cave network, has long held a mythical lure. Tourists are drawn by the legend of the "reclining lady", a princess who committed suicide after her lover was murdered there, and the cave is a magnet for curious children.

The discovery of the boys' boots and bikes outside the entrance was the first indication of what may have gone wrong.

Titan, 11, the youngest, has since told his mother they planned to explore for an hour. Instead, they were forced by a sudden rush of water to retreat through the pitch-black labyrinth and became marooned 2.5 miles inside.

Their adventure then escalated into one of the most heroic rescue missions the world has ever seen.

Thailand's elite navy Seals were first on the scene. But they were more used to tropical open waters.

They turned to Vern Unsworth, 63, a British caver who lived nearby, and who described the cave network as his "second home" after years of exploring and mapping it.

He quickly realised the scale of the problem and brought in British world-class divers John Volanthen, Rick Stanton and Robert Harper. They arrived on June 27, joined by US air force rescue officers, and divers from Belgium, Australia and Scandinavia.

On July 2, nine days after the boys entered the cave, a miracle happened. Volanthen and Stanton, who had been leading the search team to lay guide ropes, had toiled 650ft past a cavern called Pattaya Beach, when they surfaced into an air pocket. Looming out of the darkness, captured by the light of a torch, were the emaciated boys, balancing on a rocky ledge.

"How many of you?" asked Volanthen. "Thirteen!" one boy replied, asking in faltering English for food and whether they could now leave. "Not yet," answered the diver. But the Wild Boars had been found.

The English-speaking child was Adul Sam-on, 14, whose Burmese parents left him eight years ago in the care of a Thai church to ensure his education. "He is humble and kind, quiet but also a leader," said Piyarat Yodsuwan, his class teacher. "I'm sure he would have played a key role in communicating with their rescuers."

The boys' coach kept them calm through meditation techniques, while the porous limestone cave walls provided air and drinkable water.

But while their parents cheered joyfully at their discovery, rescue teams began to draft evacuation plans ahead of forecast monsoon rains.

One option was to care for them inside until the waters subsided. But this could take months and oxygen levels were already running low.

The alternative - extracting them, in their weakened state, and requiring stretches of up to 40 minutes underwater - was almost impossible to believe.

One navy Seal commander, who was not authorised to use his name, told The Sunday Telegraph that he feared for his divers' lives. "The water was as cold as a fridge but they had to stay for 5-6 hours in there. There was low visibility, of about one foot," he said.

The dangers were brought home by the morale-shattering death on July 6 of Saman Kunan, 38, a former navy Seal. "Everyone was upset but we had to revise our planning and keep moving forward," said the commander.

The decision to risk diving the boys was made the next night by General Prayuth Chan-ocha, the Thai prime minister, based partly on reports of approaching rains. The rescue leaders were "just waiting for a go," said a source inside. When it came, the reaction was calm and focused. "The boys were cool. They understood the situation and were just eager to come out."

By now the operation had swollen to 10,000 people, but the extraction was led by 19 divers, including the Britons.

Given anti-anxiety medication to avert panic attacks, the boys were each guided by two divers. In caverns with air pockets, they were transported on floating stretchers across perilously rocky areas. "Seeing the first child come through the first passage that night - seeing they were well and breathing - was surprising," Claus Rasmussen, a Danish diver, told The Australian.

During the three-day rescue, Thailand both cheered and held its breath.

By Tuesday evening there were tears of joy as Chanthawong, the final survivor, emerged safely.

It had been dubbed "mission impossible" but it was now "mission complete", said a delighted Narongsak Osottanakorn, the local governor.

Now recovering in hospital, the experience may be life-changing for the boys. Adul, the coach, and two other "stateless" boys from Burma, may be granted Thai passports, authorities said. This would allow them to accept an invitation to Fifa's annual awards event in London in September.

Plans are also afoot for them to shave their heads and spend a few days in a monastery, to expunge their negative experience. Chanthawong may also find solace in Buddhist traditions to cope with guilt, though he has been embraced by the boys' families.

"If people blame him, he must be patient as I have taught him," said the abbot. "I hope he will come back to work."