The cavern where a team of young soccer players were trapped for 17 days last summer, and then rescued in a dramatic underwater escape has now become a major tourism attraction.
Until the young athletes and their coach were trapped there by rising waters, the forest park in Chiang Rai Province was visited mostly by locals, but since the area reopened on November 16, it’s had thousands of visitors. The cave itself, where they were trapped by rising floodwaters, is still off-limits.
Hundreds of souvenir stands selling T-shirts, food and more have sprung up along the road to the cave area, and work is underway on a museum that will commemorate the rescue effort.
