The first of five villagers trapped in a flooded cave in central Laos was pulled out safely on Friday night, rescue teams said. A Thai rescue group announced on Facebook that “the first victim has been successfully rescued out of the cave.” A crowd greeted the man as he emerged; he struggled to walk and needed assistance from two rescuers before being taken for a medical check.
The five men were found alive by divers on Wednesday after becoming trapped by a flash flood while searching the cave for minerals. A separate villager who escaped earlier alerted authorities that several people remained inside, prompting the complex multinational rescue effort.
Teams from Laos and neighboring Thailand, joined by rescuers from Japan and Malaysia, have been working at the remote site in Xaisomboun province, about 120 kilometers north of the capital Vientiane. Divers have navigated dark, narrow, flooded passages with jagged walls, racing against time and deteriorating conditions to reach the men. The trapped villagers were reported in generally good health but exhausted and dehydrated.
Two of the men still have not been found. Finnish cave diver Mikko Paasi told ThaiPBS World that rescue crews have searched roughly 95% of the tunnel system and that “we don’t have many places left to search,” tempering hopes for the two missing.
Rescuers say extracting the remaining four will be difficult and may take time. Teams must weigh the dangers of guiding non-divers through zero-visibility, water-filled passages against waiting for lower water levels. Thakkit Taengtang of the Sai Than Association, one of the Thai organizations on site, said evacuations were suspended until the next day because conditions and the men’s readiness were not right.
Crews pumped water from the cave on Friday to improve conditions, but a morning rainstorm complicated the effort. While teams prepare for further extrications, the trapped men have been supplied with drinking water, soft food and foil blankets to help keep them warm.
The operation remains delicate and weather dependent as rescuers continue to balance speed and safety in extremely challenging terrain.