Splash Inn 009 - Inside the Laos Cave Rescue with Josh Richards

Most adventures start with a plan. This one started with a Facebook message.

In May 2026, reports emerged from north-eastern Laos that a group of villagers were trapped in a remote mine by unexpected flooding. Within days cave divers and rescue specialists from all over the world had converged on the jungle near Long Tieng to search for the survivors.
For Josh Richards, it all started with a message asking "How busy are you the next few days?". It turned into a story of uncertainty, desperation, despair, perseverance, and courage.
In this presentation, Josh gives audiences an inside look at how an international cave rescue unfolds. From last-minute packing and sleeping behind vending machines, to scraping through flooded tunnels, being asked to do terrifying things with a soup spoon, and sharing emotional moments never meant for the news, Josh will take the audience inside the real story behind the Laos cave rescue.
This is more than just a tale about cave diving in a remote country; this is about ordinary people coping with extraordinary challenges; and how experience, collaboration, and persistence became a lifeline for the rescuers and rescued alike.

Josh Richards is an explorer, author, and storyteller whose career has taken him from the military and fine arts, to cybersecurity and cave exploration around the world. A former Mars One astronaut candidate and author of "Becoming Martian" and "Cosmic Nomad", Josh is fascinated by the unknown, and is driven to explore it while sharing all he discovers along the way.
As leader of the Soggy Wombats cave exploration team, Josh has made numerous major cave discoveries in South Australia, the Nullarbor, Indonesia and Japan. In May 2026, Josh was asked to participate in the Long Tieng mine rescue, joining a team of cave divers and rescue specialists in Laos as they worked to reach and rescue 5 local villagers trapped inside a flooded mine. Josh's presentations combine adventure, exploration, humour, and hard-earned lessons from operating in some of the world's most challenging environments.