Laos: First villager rescued from flooded cave

The first of five villagers who were trapped in a cave in Laos emerged on Friday night, after rescue workers pulled him out safely. 

“The first victim has been successfully rescued out of the cave,” a Thai rescue group said in a Facebook post. 

A crowd greeted the man, who struggled to walk and had to be assisted by two rescue workers. He was then taken away for a medical check.

It is the first extrication from the cave since the five men were found alive by divers on Wednesday.

The villagers entered the cave last week in search of valuable minerals, but they were trapped inside by a flash flood that blocked their way out. Another villager who escaped in time managed to alert authorities that seven were left inside. 

A crew of experts assembled to help the men in what has been a very complex mission.

Rescue teams from Laos and neighboring Thailand, joined by Japanese and Malaysian colleagues, arrived at the site in a rugged area in the central province of Xaisomboun, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Vientiane.

Divers raced against the clock, facing dark and unfamiliar surroundings, making their way through twisting, narrow, flooded passages with jagged walls.

The rescue team found the men reportedly in good health but exhausted from dehydration and lack of food.

Four others await rescue

Two men are still missing and hopes of finding them are fading as rescue teams have already searched around 95% of the tunnel system but have so far found no trace of the two, Finnish cave diver Mikko Paasi told ThaiPBS World.

“We don't have many places left to search,” he explained.

The remaining four will have to be pulled out in and the operation may take time, as the weather and the conditions of the men have to be the right ones.

Thakkit Taengtang of Sai Than Association, one of the Thai rescue organizations at the scene said that for now the evacuations of the other four others were suspended until tomorrow because they were not ready.

Rescue teams had pumped water out of the flooded cave’s passages on Friday, but a morning rainstorm complicated their work.

While they wait, the trapped men have already been supplied with water, soft food, and foil blankets to keep them warm.

Pulling out the men is not easy, as rescuers must weigh the high risks of guiding survivors without diving skills through zero-visibility water when the cave is flooded, or waiting longer for less water to be in the passageways.

Edited by: Sean Sinico