[3] He attended Longhill High School[4] in Rottingdean, and later De Montfort University in Leicester where he studied electronics.

[citation needed] Volanthen frequently cave dives and conducts rescues with a partner, Richard Stanton.

[9] Norwegian authorities asked him to assist in recovering the bodies of two Finnish divers from Jordbrugrotta in 2014, but after diving down to the site he and his colleagues assessed the operation to be too risky.

In 2018, he helped locate a youth football team in the Tham Luang cave rescue; he and Stanton were the first to make contact with them.

[14] Volanthen disputed the notion that encountering the team was due to luck, saying that he and Stanton systematically surfaced at every airspace in the flooded cave passages to shout and listen for a response, as well as to smell for any indicators of human waste signifying the current or past presence of the team.

"[14] In 2004, Volanthen and Stanton set a record for the greatest depth achieved in a British cave, diving 76 m (249 ft) at Wookey Hole in Somerset.

[19] In September 2018, he was given the Bronze Cross, The Scout Association's highest honour, awarded for "heroism or action in the face of extraordinary risk.

"[20] In November 2018, Volanthen and five other members of the British cave rescue team were given the Pride of Britain 2018 award for "Outstanding Bravery" for the Tham Luang incident.

[21] In the 2019 New Year Honours, Volanthen and Stanton were awarded the George Medal (GM) for their roles at Tham Luang.