Rescue workers in Laos safely evacuated four villagers trapped in a flooded cave for 10 days, a day after the first survivor was successfully extracted.
Lao 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.
Rescue teams had been racing against time to free the four men still trapped in the cave while searching for two others who remained missing.
The successful evacuation of the first man on Friday had offered a glimmer of hope in the perilous mission.
Rescuers were optimistic about extracting the remaining four men on Saturday, having previously deemed them not ready for removal.
Rescue Volunteer for People, a Lao group, said on Facebook that the water level inside the cave receded low enough for the villagers to leave with divers who had gone in to deliver food and water.
Now, efforts are focused on draining more water from the cave system as the search for the missing individuals continues.
Norrased Palasing, a Thai cave diver involved in the recue operation, affirmed the commitment on his Facebook page. "One person has made it out safely and we’ll not stop until the remaining four make it home too," he said.
The initial evacuation on Friday took some 30 minutes. Footage captured the moment the survivor emerged from the water, alongside a diver, gasping for breath before struggling through a narrow, flooded passage.
He rose unsteadily to his feet, his hands visibly injured, as rescuers cautioned each other. He was then wrapped in a foil blanket and helped into a seated position. Another video showed him exiting the cave’s entrance, a lamp strapped to his forehead, walking unsteadily with assistance before being handed over to other team members amidst a waiting crowd.
The villagers had reportedly entered the cave last week in search of valuable minerals when flash flooding blocked their exit. One villager managed to escape and alert authorities to the seven left behind.
Five were found alive on Wednesday and identified by their first names as Khamla, Mued, Ee, Ing, and Laen. The trapped men had been supplied with water, soft food, and foil blankets, though videos from inside the cave suggested their condition was deteriorating.
The rescue mission at the rugged site in the central province of Xaisomboun, about 120km north of the capital Vientiane, involves teams from Laos, Thailand, Japan, and Malaysia as well as Indonesian, French and Australian specialists. Many of the divers bring prior experience from the complex 2018 rescue of 12 schoolboys and their football coach from a cave in northern Thailand.
The challenges facing the rescuers are immense. Thai rescuer Kengkaj Bongkawong of the Metta Tham Rescue Kalasin group detailed the treacherous conditions in a video shot on Friday, just an hour before the first evacuation.
A station had been established in a large chamber, accessible only after navigating about 200 metres of twisting, narrow, flooded passages with jagged walls. From there, divers had to navigate a 30m flooded tunnel to reach 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," Mr Kengkaj said.
Guiding survivors with no diving experience through zero-visibility floodwaters presented a significant risk. A video showed Thai diver Norrased and Finnish specialist Mikko Paasi instructing the men about using diving gear and breathing techniques. "All the way, breathe through your mouth only. Do not ever breathe with your nose, do you understand?" Mr Norrased emphasised during the session.
Rescuers are preparing to extend their search for the two missing villagers. Mr Kengkaj indicated plans to explore an area 20-25m deeper inside the cave, beyond where the survivors were located. However, he cautioned that this section was heavily flooded.
"That area has a lot of water,” he noted. “The water goes there because it’s even deeper than this place.”
