Richard "Harry" Harris, , is an Australian

anaesthetist Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, ...

and

cave diver Cave-diving is underwater diving in water-filled caves. It may be done as an extreme sport, a way of exploring flooded caves for scientific investigation, or for the search for and recovery of divers or, as in the 2018 Thai cave rescue, other ...

who played a crucial role in the

Tham Luang cave rescue In June and July 2018, a junior association football team and their assistant coach were rescued from the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand. Twelve members of the team, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old ass ...

. He and

Craig Challen Craig Challen, is an Australian technical diver and Cave diving, cave explorer. He was the recipient of the Oztek 2009 Diver of the Year award for his services to caving, and was joint winner of the 2019 Australian of the Year. He grew up in ...

were jointly awarded 2019

Australian of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Governmentowned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the State and Territo ...

as a result of that rescue.

Education and career

After completing school at St Peter's College in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, Harris completed a

Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

Flinders University Flinders University is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across 11 locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of British navigator ...

in 1988. He subsequently completed anaesthetics training in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Harris has worked on medical assistance teams in natural disasters in the Pacific region and taken part in

Australian Aid Australian Aid is the brand name used to identify projects in developing countries supported by the Australian Government. As of 2014 the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has been responsible for Australia's official development ...

missions to

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

. he works as an aeromedical consultant and anaesthetist for the

South Australian Ambulance Service SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) is a State Government agency under SA Health, that provides emergency ambulance transport, clinical care and non emergency patient transport services to over 1.5 million people, distributed across an area of 1,043,5 ...

's medical retrieval service.

Cave diving

Harris is a cave diver with over 30 years of experience. Harris's cave diving experiences include leading a team of Australian divers to record depths of in 2011 and 2012 whilst searching for the source of New Zealand's

Pearse River The Pearse River is a river of the Tasman Region of New Zealand's South Island. It flows east from sources in the Wharepapa / Arthur Range, reaching the Motueka River 20 kilometres southwest of Motueka. The source is a resurgence near the Nettl ...

, the mission was filmed for ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

''. In 2011, Harris was requested by the

South Australian Police South Australia Police (SAPOL) is the police force of the Australian state of South Australia. SAPOL is an independent statutory agency of the Government of South Australia directed by the Commissioner of Police, who reports to the Minister for ...

to participate in the recovery of the body of his close friend Agnes Milowka, who had died whilst exploring a cave near Tantanoola in the south east of

. In 2009 Harris was awarded the "Outstanding Achievement" award at the Australian technical diving conference Oztek, to mark his exceptional contributions to cave diving exploration, in 2017 he was awarded the "Australasian Technical Diver of the Year" at Oztek.

Tham Luang cave rescue

In June 2018 Harris was about to depart on a cave diving holiday to the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...

when he and dive partner

were requested by the Thai government, on the advice of British cave diving experts attempting to rescue twelve Thai children and their soccer coach who were trapped in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave system, to provide assistance with the rescue efforts. Harris' efforts throughout the rescue have been described as essential; he conducted a medical assessment of all of the trapped boys and it was on his advice that the authorities reversed their initial strategy of rescuing the strongest boys first, followed by the weakest. At the 18 July press conference, it was revealed that the team decided as a group that the boys who lived the farthest away should leave first, so they could ride their bikes home. To allow the rescue to occur, Harris developed a plan to keep the boys anaesthetised with

ketamine Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic used medically for induction and maintenance of anesthesia. It is also used as a recreational drug. It is one of the safest anesthetics, as, in contrast with opiates, ether, and propofol, it suppresses ne ...

while spontaneously breathing through full face masks. This was to ensure they did not panic during the long extrication through underwater caves, which would have endangered both the rescue scuba divers and the boys. Harris and Challen were the last members of the rescue team out of the caves following the rescue. On 24 July 2018 Harris, along with Challen, was awarded the Star of Courage (SC) and

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(OAM) by the

Governor-General of Australia The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.King of Thailand The monarchy of Thailand (whose monarch is referred to as the king of Thailand; th, พระมหากษัตริย์ไทย, or historically, king of Siam; th, พระมหากษัตริย์สยาม) refers to the c ...

appointed Harris as a Knight Grand Cross (First Class) of the Most Admirable Order of the Direkgunabhorn. On

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port Ja ...

2019, Harris was announced as the joint 2019

with Challen. On 5 November 2019 Harris and Challen released the book ''Against All Odds'' chronicling their participation in the rescue of the boys from the Tham Luang Cave. In the book they corrected some of the inaccuracies in the media regarding the rescue. Harris stated that he did not pick the order that the boys would leave the cave, and that the boys decided that amongst themselves based on the distance each boy lived from the cave, as they thought they had to cycle back home. He also said the boys were fully unconscious as they were carried through the flooded cave, as he had given each boy two intramuscular injections in the thigh:

to put them to sleep, and

atropine Atropine is a tropane alkaloid and anticholinergic medication used to treat certain types of nerve agent and pesticide poisonings as well as some types of slow heart rate, and to decrease saliva production during surgery. It is typically given i ...

to suppress saliva production to stop choking.

References

External links

* ''

''
"Record Cave Dive Leaves Mystery"
published 3 May 2011.
Wet Mules homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Richard Living people Australian anaesthetists Australian underwater divers Australian cavers Cave diving explorers Place of birth missing (living people) Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Star of Courage (Australia) Australian of the Year Award winners Year of birth missing (living people)

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, notably as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Red Desert'', Frank Machin in ''This Sporting ...

Tham Luang cave rescue