Rescue workers in Laos yesterday said they have safely evacuated four villagers trapped in a flooded cave for 10 days, a day after another one was successfully extracted. Two men remain missing.
Laos and Thai rescue groups posted about the successful operation on social media, along with photos of the men lying on stretchers, wearing oxygen masks and being wrapped in foil blankets.
The villagers had reportedly entered the cave last week to look for valuable minerals before being trapped by flash flooding that blocked their way out. One other villager escaped in time and alerted the authorities to the seven left behind.
Photo: Association Of Volunteers For Lao People via AP
Rescue Volunteer for People posted on its Facebook page that the water level inside the cave receded low enough for them to leave with divers who had gone in to deliver food and water.
They said they would continue their search for the two who remain missing.
Five of them were found alive on Wednesday. They were identified by their first names: Khamla, Mued, Ee, Ing and Laen. It is unclear which of them was evacuated on Friday.
The men had been supplied with water, soft food and foil blankets to keep them warm.
Rescue teams from Laos and Thailand were joined by Japanese and Malaysian colleagues. Indonesian, French and Australian specialists also reportedly arrived at the site. Several of them had taken part in the complicated 2018 cave rescue in northern Thailand of 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach.
The rescue team has set up a station in a large chamber inside the cave, accessible only by navigating more than 200m of twisting, narrow, flooded passages with jagged walls. From there, divers need to dive through a flooded tunnel about 30m before reaching the trapped men.
“To dive in a cave, there are issues with the temperature, narrow areas, control of movement and managing the panic of the survivor, which will be difficult, but we have to do it,” Thai rescuer Kengkaj Bongkawong of the Metta Tham Rescue Kalasin said.
There is a significant risk for the team of guiding the survivors without diving skills through zero-visibility water.
A video showed Norrased and Finnish diver Mikko Paasi teaching the men how to use diving gear, including breathing techniques underwater.
“All the way, breathe through your mouth only. Do not ever breathe with your nose, do you understand?” Norrased said.
Rescuers were also preparing to search for the two villagers who remain missing.
The team plans to explore an area deeper inside the cave, about 20m to 25m beyond where the survivors were found, Kengkaj said.
However, he cautioned that the section is heavily flooded, saying: “That area has a lot of water... It’s even deeper than this place.”
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