In 1986 an eight km2 sector of the range which included the entrance to the main cave was declared the Tham Luang–Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park.
2018 rescue operation On 23 June 2018, a group of twelve boys aged between 11 and 16, who went to explore Tham Luang Nang Non with their assistant football coach, aged 25, went missing. The group was found 10 days later. They were part of a local junior football team. The cave they entered became flooded. Thai Navy SEAL divers had been searching the caves ever since. Owing to heavy rain which further flooded the cave entrance, searches were periodically interrupted.
Thai NAVY divers soon got help from American, Australian, British, and Chinese divers, military members, and emergency personnel. The group was found alive on Monday evening, 2 July, according to a press release at 22:30. All 12 boys along with their coach were reported alive. They were found by British volunteer divers around 400 metres away from a spot nicknamed "Pattaya Beach", an elevated mound in the cave. Food and medical supplies were delivered but a three-hour-long journey, continued rains and mountainous terrain above the cave delayed their escape. By 10 July at 19:00, all of the boys and their coach had been rescued from the cave. ==Legend==