Rescuers in Laos find five survivors from a flooded cave in a village, after they had been trapped for a week due to heavy rain and landslides. Two other villagers who were with them are missing, the Laotian and Thai rescue teams involved in the rescue operations have said.
Seven people were part of a group of villagers from Xaysomboun in the central province who entered the cave last Wednesday to search for gold deposits and wildlife, but were unable to escape because the cave entrance was blocked.
Footage shared by rescuers showed divers crawling through narrow, muddy passages that were almost completely flooded inside the cave. Bounkham Louanglat of the Laotian organization Rescue Volunteer for People told the Associated Press that the search for the missing person will continue.
"I'm still shaking," he said in a voice message. "Our team did it."
The cave system, which extends deep underground, is also extremely narrow, with some chambers being only about 50 cm (20 inches) wide, rescuers say.
"We found five people alive and all safe," the Laotian rescue group Rescue Volunteer for People posted on social media.
"We are still looking for two people."
Thai rescuer Kengchak Bangkavong reported on Facebook that the villagers were found at 16:30 local time (09:30 GMT).
Finnish diving specialist Mikko Paasi earlier on Wednesday said that rescue teams would have to "traverse hundreds of meters of permanent constraints, flood water, risk of collapse, and high risk of air quality pollution" when passing through the cave, which he called "an abandoned gold mine."
He estimated that the seven people were trapped about 300 meters from the cave entrance.
The villagers entered the cave, about 120 km (75 miles) north of the capital Vientiane, last Wednesday, state media reported.
"This area is nobody's property," a Laotian rescuer named Baeng, who requested to be identified by only one name, told AFP news agency. "Local people usually go there to dig holes and look for food."
Kengchak was part of the team that helped rescue 12 young Thai boys and their soccer coach trapped in a cave under a mountain in Thailand's Chiang Rai province in 2018.
The rescue operation involved more than 10,000 experts from around the world and drew intense global attention. Several films and documentaries were made about it, including the feature film "Thirteen Lives" and the documentary "The Rescue."
In central Laos, in the Xaysomboun province, five villagers trapped in a flooded cave for more than a week have been rescued, rescuers said on Wednesday, but two are still missing.
The villagers entered the cave in Xaysomboun province on May 19, but heavy rains caused flooding that blocked the exit and trapped seven people, Laotian and Thai rescue teams involved in the operation say.
Bounkham Louanglat of the Laotian organization Rescue Volunteer for People, which is working closely with local authorities on the rescue efforts, said five people were found safe and alive, but two are still missing and their search will continue.
"I'm still shaking. Our team did it," he said in a voice message.
A video posted by the Thai rescue team for the mission shows the moment divers emerge from the water and find the trapped villagers. In the footage, the villagers, each wearing a headlamp, are sitting on a rock surrounded by floodwater.
Other videos showed rescuers in and around the cave cheering, jumping, and hugging each other in joy after the discovery.
Thai rescue workers from neighboring Thailand arrived at the scene over the weekend. Among them are divers from several countries who participated in the complex rescue of 12 school students and their soccer coach trapped in a cave in northern Thailand in 2018, who were trapped inside a cave for more than two weeks before being safely brought out.
The cave is located in the Longchen District of Xaysomboun Province, about 120 km (75 miles) north of the capital Vientiane. Rescue workers have detailed on social media the mountainous terrain and heavy rain that has hindered their work.
Videos shared by Thai rescue workers on the internet showed that it takes a roughly 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) steep hike to reach the entrance of the cave. The entrance is also steep and rocky and is only wide enough for one person to squeeze through.
It has not been officially confirmed why the villagers entered the cave. However, Bounkham said the cave was often visited by residents looking for gold, despite repeated warnings from authorities about safety concerns.
