Rescuers used Israeli tech to locate football team in Thailand cave

48 hours after the boys went missing, Thai authorities made contact with local agents for Mr Hanuni’s company Maxtech, asking to use its technology.

Each of its radios act as a transmitter for nearby devices, allowing rescue workers to talk to each other between multiple caverns.

While the range of normal radios dropped to as little as 100 metres around the caves, Mr Hanuni’s system allowed voice contact between rescuers stationed as much as a kilometre apart from each other.

Mr Hanuni appeared on Israeli TV and radio as the rescue operation moved into its final stages, talking about the most high-profile Israeli technology of the moment.

He told one television interviewer: “We understood that the only way for those rescue forces to enter into this deep cave was using resilient and good communication that can survive this tough environment.”

Maxtech rushed approximately 20 units to Thailand along with an Israeli technician to set them up. The company refused to charge a fee, it said, feeling it was not right to negotiate fees during an emergency.

Resembling a walkie-talkie, the devices contain a sophisticated algorithm developed at Maxtech’s offices near Tel Aviv which allows them to relay voice and data.

The technology eliminates the conventional requirement for radios to be in a line-of-sight for prime operation.

Mr Hanuni said it felt “amazing” knowing that his devices helped the rescue.

He said: “I felt that I contributed something great to the world. In the Jewish tradition, if a person saves a life it is as if he saved a whole world, and my company and I played a part in saving the lives of 13 kids.”