Midlands man speaks of his role in Thai cave rescue - with VIDEO

Modest Mike Clayton seemed slightly bemused by the reception he and his fellow hero rescuers received when they arrived back in the UK.

Mr Clayton said he had hoped for the best, but had real doubts.

The 50-year-old, from Hampton Loade, near Bridgnorth, returned to a hero's welcome after helping to save 12 schoolboys and their football coach from a cave in Thailand.

WATCH: Find out more about he incredible rescue

But he says while the aim was always to rescue everybody who had been trapped in Luang Nang Non Cave for more than a week, there were always concerns it would not be possible.

"Truthfully, we were not expecting a 100 per cent success rate," he says. "You try to hope, but privately I think we all had a more realistic expectation that it wouldn't quite be the case."

Modest and softly spoken, Mr Clayton seems slightly bemused by the reception he and his fellow rescuers received when they arrived back in the UK. Sitting in the kitchen of his idyllic home beside the River Severn, he is quick to point out that he was not one of the divers who entered the cave, but worked in ancillary support role.

"I wasn't there as a diver, I was there providing support at the surface," he says.

"There were three of us who went there in a support role, a lot of what we were doing was keeping everything away from the divers so they could focus on their job.

"There were a lot of discussions between the different authorities, this was an international venture, and we were also sourced the equipment that they need."

An experienced diver and caver himself, his experience was invaluable in ensuring everything went smoothly.

"It helped that I knew what the divers were going through, and knew my way around the equipment they would need," he says.

He says the scale of the operation to rescue the 13 was totally unprecedented, and it was impossible to know what the outcome would be.

"We had never done anything like it before, and as the operation went on there was a lot of improvisation," he says.

Mr Clayton, who is chairman of Midlands Cave Rescue Organisation, received the call to go out to Thailand's Chian Rai province within hours of the discovery that the boys and their 25-year-old coach were safe and well in the underground cave network.

His partner Emma Porter, who is the secretary of British Cave Rescue Council, had already been providing administrative support for the rescue operation in this country.

"She had been dealing with it for the past two weeks, and knew that we needed more support out there for the divers," he said.

"They needed somebody who was really experienced and had an understanding employer, who could go out at short notice, and I went out on the Thursday morning."

Mr Clayton is a friend of Rick Stanton from Coventry, who along with colleague John Volanthen, discovered the boys were safe and well when they entered the Luan Nang Non Cave a fortnight ago.

He says the news came as a big surprise, having feared the worst given that they had been missing for more than a week.

"You don't normally expect that," he says.

Mr Clayton, who works as a safety officer for Eccleshall-based Arco, is also equipment officer for the British Cave Rescue Council. He has been involved in cave rescue for 18 years, and is philosophical about the work he does.

"When you're a caver, you're a cave rescuer as well, it's just something you do," he says.

"As a caver, you hope someone will go in and help you if you get into difficulties, so you do the same yourself."

He says the pressures and the stresses of being involved in a rescue on this scale were serious, but the sense of elation when all 13 of those stranded in the caves more than made up for it.

"When we heard they were all safe, it was fantastic, there was a massive sense of relief," he says.

"I think it's always emotional, because a life is a life, whether it's children or adults, any successful rescue is emotional.

"It was pretty exhausting, some nights we didn't finish until 9 or 10pm, other times it was earlier, I think it was more emotionally draining than physically tiring.

"We had a lot of waiting around when the divers were in the cave, a lot of sitting, waiting and wondering what was going on."

Mr Clayton says he knew many of the British volunteers who took part in the operation, including Rick Stanton who – along with colleague John Volanthen – discovered that the boys were safe and well/

"I have known Rick for years," he says.

Mr Stanton, from Coventry, who is also a member of Midlands Cave Rescue, described his emotions on finding the boys.

"Initially, of course, the excitement, relief that they were still alive," he said on arrival at Heathrow airport.

"As they were were coming down the slope, we were counting them until we got to 13. Unbelievable.

"We gave them a little bit of extra light, they still had light, they looked in good health. Then of course, when we departed, all we could think about was how we were going to get them out. So there was relief, tempered with uncertainty.

"Are we heroes? No, we were just using a very unique skill set which we normally use for own interests and sometimes we are able to use that and give something back to the community."