For more than two weeks, he maintained a lonely vigil as he awaited any word of his 14-year-old son trapped inside the Tham Luang cave system with his teammates.
Now Adisak Wongsukchan just wants to hug his boy.
The last four boys and their coach were pulled to safety by divers last night, marking the end of the torturous ordeal for the “Wild Boars” who became trapped in the cave complex on the border with Myanmar on June 23.
Mr Wongsukchan’s son, Akarat, was among the group plucked to safety by Thai Navy Seals the day before, but he decided to stay at the cave’s mouth with the remaining families and rescue workers.
Akarat remains in hospital and his father said he’s keen to finally see his son.
"I want to hug him... and I want to tell him that I'm happy," he told CNN from the rescue site.
"I promised the other parents, the five, I will wait and come out together. I'm not going to leave them. We're going to go together.”
As he left the complex, the emotional father stopped to thank every person he passed on the way.
Now that the boys are out, the focus will be on the physical and mental toll of the ordeal.
Experts warned that drinking contaminated water or otherwise being exposed to bird or bat droppings in the cave could lead to dangerous infections.
They also said counselling would be needed to deal with the psychological trauma of spending so long not knowing whether they were going to survive.
