The 12 village boys who were trapped with their football coach in a Thai cave for almost three weeks are heading out to meet fellow youth players in Argentina and do a brief tour of the United States.
The members of Wild Boars football team, whose ordeal came to a happy ending in early July when an international team of cave divers brought them out in a complicated rescue mission, were leaving late on Wednesday night on their 17-day journey.
It had been planned for them to take six months out of the spotlight to ease any psychological trauma.
But Thailand's military government, eager to share in their glory, has trotted them out for public appearances and interviews. Movie deals are being negotiated.
A Thai-based film company has joined the scramble to retell the dramatic story of the young footballers.
Since the 'Wild Boars' team were extracted from Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand two months ago, there has been a frenzy of media interest in the feel-good tale that captivated the world for weeks.
Documentary makers and Hollywood producers have tussled to get films off the ground, with journalists also spinning book deals from the real-life rescue mission.
A Bangkok production company called De Warrenne Pictures are the latest to agree financing to make their version called "The Cave" with shooting planned for November.
The "Wild Boars" soccer team recovering in hospital after their ordeal. Source: AAP
"The project is already set," producer Katrina Grose told AFP, of a movie that will be directed by Tom Waller -- a Bangkok-based filmmaker of mixed Thai-Irish descent.
The operation to save the boys, who wandered into the cave after a football training session and became stuck as floodwaters surged in, involved expert cave divers from across the world.
They were found after 11 days huddled on a muddy ledge without food or fresh water, floodwaters lapping ominously below them.
An ex-Thai Navy SEAL died in the run-up to the daring extraction of the group, who were heavily sedated as they were carried, pulled and dragged free from deep inside the cave.
Initially, after their rescue officials imposed a blanket ban on coverage, fearing for the boys' mental health with the world's media camped up in rural Thailand.
The Thai boys during their cave ordeal. Source: AAP
But efforts to shield the team have crumbled with TV networks jostling for interviews and the Thai junta organising a seemingly endless stream of media events.
In one of the most bizarre, last Thursday, the boys were encouraged to crawl through a mock-up tunnel in a recreated cave in a Bangkok megamall, where a zone has been dedicated to the rescue.
