Five Gold Prospectors Pulled to Safety from Flooded Cave in Laos
Rescue teams successfully extracted four individuals from a flooded cave system in Laos on Saturday following the rescue of a single man late on Friday night. Thai volunteer divers confirmed the breakthrough operation, bringing a glimmer of hope to a tense standoff against the elements, Reuters reports.
The five survivors were part of a group of seven Laotian nationals who had ventured into the cave in Xaisomboun province to prospect for gold. They became trapped underground for more than a week after rapidly rising floodwaters blocked their only exit route. The search for the remaining two missing members of the group is ongoing.
Tears of relief
Kengkard Bongkawong, a Thai cave diver participating in the mission, announced on Facebook that the four men located earlier in the week had been safely brought to the surface on Saturday. Video footage released by the volunteer teams showed the Laotian men emerging into the daylight wearing heavily soiled clothes and headlamps. Many were visibly weeping with relief and sporting joyful expressions as they were guided to safety by emergency personnel.
Although the group of five had been discovered by search teams on Wednesday, perilous underwater conditions and narrow passages meant they remained trapped for several more days before extraction was deemed safe. Authorities have stated that rescue operations will now refocus entirely on locating the two remaining prospectors.
A multinational rescue effort
The complex underwater operation has drawn heavily on global expertise. A team of volunteers from neighbouring Thailand spearheaded the initial response last Sunday. They were quickly reinforced by specialist divers travelling from Finland, France, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan and Australia.
Notably, the multinational rescue squad features several veteran divers who previously played crucial roles in the famous 17-day extraction of a youth football team from the flooded Tham Luang mountain cave in northern Thailand back in 2018.
