ABC News Plans ’20/20′ Special on Thailand Caves Rescue

By Brian Steinberg

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – ABC News will air a special edition of “20/20” Tuesday night documenting rescue efforts to save 12 boys and a coach who became marooned in a series of caves in Thailand, a sign of how much the news story has begun to resound around the globe.

said the special edition of the newsmagazine, anchored by David Muir and Amy Robach, will feature a minute by minute account of how the situation unfolded along with the most recent developments, including the rescue of the first several boys. The hour-long broadcast will include interviews with classmates of the boys; Carl Henderson, an English teacher at a local school in the boys’ community; Nopparat Kanthawong, the boys’ head soccer coach; Bill Whitehouse, Vice Chairman of the British Cave Rescue Council, and more.

Many news organizations have flocked to the rescue site outside ’s Tham Lung network of caves. Euphoria surged after the team was discovered alive in the caves, but sentiment became more muted after authorities began to threat about surging rains and declining levels of oxygen for the team. Over the last two days, however, expert divers and rescuers have  been able to bring eight boys out to the surface.

ABC was early to dispatch a correspondent, James Longman, to the scene. The “” special will feature on-the-ground reporting from Longman, national correspondent Matt Gutman, and correspondent Adrienne Bankert.