A RESCUE TEAM has today freed one of seven men trapped inside a semi-submerged cave in Laos for more than a week.
The seven men had been trapped in the cavern in a remote mountainous area of central Xaysomboun province since 20 May, when flash floods stranded them as they searched for gold, early state media reports said.
Five of the men were located alive on Wednesday, huddling in a narrow shaft around 300 metres (984ft) from the cave mouth.
Footage filmed by rescue divers showed them muddy and despondent, complaining of chest pains and hunger pangs, while the remaining two of their group remain unaccounted for.
“The first victim has been successfully rescued out of the cave,” a Thai rescue group said in a Facebook post late Friday accompanied by a picture of three men guiding another bedraggled and muddy man over unsteady ground.
Rescue efforts had focused on pumping out the monsoon flood waters which trapped the men.
“One person has got out of the cave safely,” Thai rescue team member Kengkard Bonggawong said in a separate Facebook post. “We will assess the other four and we will hunt for the other two tomorrow.”
Earlier in the day Thai rescue teams were rehearsing extraction procedures outside the cave with stretchers, ropes and cables, according to images shared on social media.
Laos’s meteorology office forecast thunderstorms on Friday afternoon and evening, with rainfall expected across 60 percent of Xaysomboun province.
Meanwhile a new team of specialist divers touched down in Laos on Friday, including members from Thailand, France Indonesia and Australia, according to Thai rescuers.
The emergency echoes the 2018 case of the Thai youth football team which spent 18 days trapped in a cave in Thailand’s north before a daring international rescue saved their lives.
Two divers involved in that retrieval of 12 young footballers and their coach are working with Laotian volunteers after locals requested specialist personnel and equipment.
Finnish diver Mikko Paasi, part of the team that saved the “Wild Boars” football team in Thailand, said on Wednesday that rescuers were “racing against time” inside the cave.
Rain the following day sent more soil and water into the cave, according to a Laotian logistics staffer for a firm supplying vehicles to support the rescue operation.
The man said on Thursday the rescue operation could stretch to “a few more days” if rains continued, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fears of reprisal from his employer.
Laos local media reported several rescue workers had shown signs of exhaustion after spending seven to 10 hours at a time inside the cave system carrying oxygen tanks, rescue equipment and supplies.