It was such an amazing rescue. I don't think the general public at the time really understood how incredibly stuck they were. I mean at one point the best solution was really looking like waiting half a year until the monsoon season finishes. There was just no brute-force solution, they couldn't dig them out, they couldn't pump out the water, they couldn't find another way in.

the rescue included brute force as well as strategy. they had to run all their pumps just to keep the water levels near the entrance from rising too high for the rescue operation. they were basically fighting against the ever rising water levels just to keep them steady.

Agreed, hence my quotation marks around the word dry above. Some caves genuinely stay dry because of their structure or location, and others can suddenly, lethally flood. but even the truly dry ones can kill in no time just like that through a litany of terrible reasons, experts and amateurs both being victims.

It would however be a bad idea for someone to assume a truly dry cave is thus safe enough to let their guard down because they know how much more dangerous flood-prone or submerged caves are.