An experienced diver from Essex is helping at the scene of the rescue drama in Thailand.
Teams continue to work frantically to rescue the trapped schoolboys before the caves are flooded by monsoon rains.
Four were rescued from the flooded cave today and the rescue mission will resume in the morning.
It comes as anxious parents said the identities of the rescued boys have not been rescued, the Guardian reports.
Namhom Boonpiam, the mother of Mongkhol Boonpiam, said police have not even told parents which boys have made it out of the cave.
Tim Acton, whose family live near Harwich, has years of diving and rescue experience having worked around the world including Iraq, Kuwait and Indonesia as well as Thailand.
His contacts at the Thai Navy Seal unit invited him to join in the rescue operation and within hours he had made the seven hour flight from his home in Bangkok to the scene.
Tim met the crack service team several years ago when the necessary medical tests for commercial divers were carried out by military doctors.
The 39-year-old was immediately drafted into the support team and has already made several journeys into the caves.
There is a news blackout at the scene but Tim has today been able to talk to his father John and tell him of the progress - and the huge challenges that still face the rescuers.
Mr Acton said: "We are not surprised that Tim was asked - or that he volunteered to help without a second thought.
"He has been trained for just this sort of situation. He says there is a frantic amount of activity but that the Thai navy team and the cave rescuers from all over the world are working together as a terrific team.
"Everyone has the same objective - to get everyone out of that cave alive."
Tim, 39, who went to school in Harwich, moved out to the Far East twelve years ago and now also runs a holiday complex along with his Thai wife Took. The couple have a young daughter called Milly.
His father added: "Tim has always looked for a challenge and wanted to help."
In 2004 Tim was running a diver school in Thailand when the deadly tsunami struck - the village where he lived was swamped and he helped save lives - later to receive an official commendation from the British ambassador for his heroic and tireless work to help victims.
But he once had to be rescued himself while crewing on a catamaran in the Pacific Ocean.
Meanwhile, Chiang Rai province governor and head of the rescue operation, Narongsak Osottanakorn, said the rescue mission would resume as soon as the team were ready.
Eight boys and their coach remain inside the cave and it is currently a race against time to get them out as monsoon rains continued on Sunday evening local time.
Narongsak said in a press conference: "We will be able to continue the rescue operation when we are ready to do so.
"We will be ready soon, because we will need to redo laying out all of the air tanks and all the systems along the way again.
"We have used everything [in the set up] that we had today The set up team will do their work again once they are ready.
"It'll be difficult to tel exactly when the next [evacuation] will start. But I guess it will be ready in the next 10 to 20 hours."