5 of 7 people trapped in Laos cave found alive: Rescuers

VIENTIANE – Five of seven people trapped in a flooded cave for a week in Laos were found alive on May 27, Laotian and Thai rescuers said.

“We’ve found five people alive and all safe. There are still two people we are searching for,” Laotian rescue group Rescue Volunteer for People said in a social media post.

“At 4.30pm, we found our target. We found five people. We are looking for the other two,” added Thai rescuer Kengkach Bangkawong in a Facebook post.

Rescuers had been “racing against time” on May 27 to extract the seven trapped people, a specialist diver involved in the operation said.

“We are racing against time as today marks the seventh day and the way in is full of challenges,” Finnish diver Mikko Paasi said in a social media post. He was one of the rescuers who aided the dramatic 2018 retrieval of a youth football team from a flooded cave in Thailand.

Seven Laotian villagers entered the cave in central Xaysomboun province, about 125km north-east of the capital Vientiane, on May 20, Laotian state media said this week.

They were searching for gold but instead got trapped inside the cave – what Mr Paasi called an “abandoned gold mine” – after heavy rain triggered flash flooding, blocking their exit.

The authorities and villagers have worked to pump water out, but rescue teams were not able to reach the group, state media said on May 25.

By the morning of May 27, the water level in the cave had dried up considerably, with rescuers continuing to pump it out, state-run Lao Economic Daily said on May 27.

Laotian rescuers, local officials and villagers gathered outside the cave on the morning of May 27 before rescue operations resumed to perform a traditional spiritual ceremony, offering chickens and rice alcohol to sacred spirits believed to protect the mountain and rescuers, a Laotian rescue group said.

Images shared by rescue teams on social media showed the offerings laid beside the cave entrance.

The cave system, located in a remote area, extends deep underground, with multiple levels and narrow passages.

Mr Paasi said: “You have to navigate hundreds of metres of constant restrictions, flood waters, collapse hazards and high risk of contaminated air quality.”

The missing seven people “should be trapped in the terminal chamber” around 300m from the exit, said Mr Paasi, who is part of a team that includes another diver and a team manager from Laos.

“We are still in high spirits that we will find the miners alive as they entered the mine with resources to stay sub-terrain for several days,” he said. AFP