© Reuters

Chiang Rai, Thailand - People all across Thailand were relieved to learn that 12 boys and their soccer coach were found alive after being missing for nine days.

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Chiang Rai, Thailand - The group had become trapped in a flooded cave at the Tham Luang cave complex. They were found by British rescue divers during a search operation that involved more than 1,000 people.

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Chiang Rai, Thailand - A video shows the moment the divers found the 25-year-old coach and the boys, who are all aged between 11 and 16.

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Annapurna, The Himalayas - In April 2010, the highest-ever rescue happened on Annapurna (the world's tenth-highest peak), after three Spanish climbers were stranded at 6,950 m.

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Annapurna, The Himalayas - The climbers were airlifted to safety after pilot Capt. Daniel Aufdenblatten dropped a long line from the helicopter, and guide Richard Lehner hung to it and helped the climbers below. The pair later won the Heroism Award.

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Atacama, Chile - The ordeal of the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped inside the collapsed San José mine was closely around the world.

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Atacama, Chile - After being trapped for 69 days, the miners were successfully rescued. Over one billion people tuned in to watch the rescue, which then became immortalized in the movie 'The 33.'

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Port-au-Prince, Haiti - The 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010 devastated the capital Port-au-Prince and affected the lives of millions of people. One of the most surprising rescues took place 15 days after the quake struck.

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Port-au-Prince, Haiti - After a man heard moaning from a pile of rubble, rescuers dug a trench until they found 16-year-old Darlene Etienne stuck under a piece of metal. Etienne said she had been conscious the whole time.

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New York, USA - In what has been considered one of the most successful water landings in history, Capt. Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger managed to land on the Hudson River with 150 people aboard.

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New York, USA - The incredible landing happened only a few minutes after the plane took off from NY's LaGuardia Airport and was hit by a flock of geese. Everybody aboard the aircraft survived, and the event was portrayed in the film "Sully," featuring Tom Hanks.

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Apollo 13 - "Houston, we've had a problem here"—who could ever forget the iconic words exchanged between astronaut John "Jack" Swigert and the NASA Mission Control Center after the Apollo 13 crew heard an explosion noise?

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Apollo 13 - In April 1970, the mission headed to the Moon came to a stall after an oxygen tank ruptured. The crafty astronauts managed to temporarily repair the carbon dioxide removal system and safely land in the South Pacific.

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Tehran, Iran - In 1979, thousands of Iranians stormed the US embassy and took dozens of Americans hostage for 444 days. Luckily, six American diplomats managed to evade capture.

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Tehran, Iran - The CIA then came up with an elaborate plan, which involved the six diplomats pretending to be filmmakers working on a sci-fi movie called 'Argo' and were in Iran scouting for locations.

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Tehran, Iran - They successfully managed to exit the country with fake passports, and the whole ordeal was brought to the big screen by actor-director Ben Affleck in the movie 'Argo,' which won three Oscars.

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New Orleans, USA - Over 10 years ago, the deadly Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, killing over 1,000 people and leaving many more without a home.

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New Orleans, USA - The US Coast Guard worked tirelessly in the months that followed the tragic August 25, 2005, date. In the end, more than 5,000 rescuers saved over 33,000 lives.

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Texas, USA - Jessica McClure was 18 months old when she fell into a well in her aunt's backyard on October 14, 1987. For the next 58 hours, rescuers drilled a tunnel across the well to free the child.

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Texas, USA - The whole odyssey prompted a 24-hour live coverage on CNN, with millions of people all around the US tuning in to see the latest updates. The two-day drama ended when baby Jessica was finally rescued.

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The Andes, Chile - On October 13, 1972, a plane flying from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile, crashed in the Andes after being hit by bad weather. More than a quarter of the passengers died, and the survivors had to resort to cannibalism.

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The Andes, Chile - Survivors Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa (pictured) braved the mountains to find help. On December 22, they came back with a rescue party and all 16 survivors made it to the hospital.

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Nantucket Island, North Atlantic - In 1956, Italian luxury liner SS Andrea Doria collided with the MS Stockholm while carrying around 1,700 people.

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Nantucket Island, North Atlantic - The passengers immediately evacuated to the Stockholm and other nearby ships that had heard the distress calls. The Andrea Doria dramatically sunk, but there were only 46 fatalities.

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Cabanatuan, Philippines - This complex World War II mission saw 121 volunteer US Army Rangers set out to rescue more than 500 allied prisoners of war from Cabanatuan camp in the Philippines.
(Photo: Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Cabanatuan, The Philippines - The Rangers launched a surprise attack on the Japanese in January 1945, and managed to free hundreds of soldiers with minimal casualties.
(Photo: Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Somalia - On April 8, 2009, four Somali pirates seized the ship MV Maersk Alabama, capturing Captain Richard Phillips and taking him on a lifeboat as hostage, in what would become a four-day nightmare.

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Somalia - On April 12, Navy Seal snipers waiting in a nearby US warship determined the Captain's life was at risk when they allegedly spotted one of the pirates pointing an AK-47 at him, and fired at the kidnappers. Captain Philips was rescued unharmed.

© Public Domain