The boys who were stranded in a flooded Thai cave

complex last July were given ketamine to prevent them

from panicking during their risky rescue.
Ketamine is primarily used as a horse tranquilizer, but
also has human medical applications, and was used
during the rescue as a relatively simple way to
anesthetize the teens as professional divers guided them
out of tight cave paths one by one, the New England
Journal of Medicine reported Thursday.
Read more: This timeline shows exactly how the Thai
cave rescue unfolded
The 12 soccer players and their coach were stuck in the
Thuam Lung cave complex in northern Thailand after it
flooded during a monsoon, blocking the only exit.
Trapped for 17 days without food or water, they group
were at risk if running out of oxygen, or drowning in
rising flood waters.

A diagram of the Thuam Lung cave complex.Shayanne Gal/Business Insider

Narrow passageways with strong currents made it so
hard for rescuers to reach the boys that a retired Thai
Navy Seal died while making the crossing. It was
important that the boys, none of whom knew how to
dive, remained calm throughout the carefully planned
rescue operation.
Read more: Former Thai navy SEAL working to rescue
soccer team trapped in a cave has died
The divers administered the boys with "unspecified doses
of ketamine" and gave them positive pressure full face
masks, the medical report said.
According to the World Health Organization, ketamine
can be a safer option than other anesthetics because it
does not depress breathing or lower blood pressure. It
also does not require expensive equipment to monitor
the patient, so it is often used in areas with unreliable
access to running water, electricity, and oxygen.
Dr. Richard Harris, an Australian anesthetist who
contributed to the report, told the Daily Mail he had to
teach rescuers when to re-sedate the boys. The timing
was crucial: If they received too little, they could panic. If
they were rendered unconscious, they might not have
been able to respond to an emergency.
"The fact that our rescue strategy worked, and not just
once but 13 times, still seems beyond the realms of
possibility and I'm pinching myself that this has been the
outcome," Dr. Harris said.