The first of five villagers trapped in a flooded cave in Laos for more than a week has been safely evacuated by rescue workers.
Footage shared by Lao and Thai rescue services showed a man unsteadily being escorted out of the cave in Laos’ central Xaisomboun province with a torch strapped to his forehead late on Friday evening local time.
He was then handed over to other members of the rescue team for a medical check as a crowd of people watched on
Five of seven people trapped inside the underground cavern were found by divers on Wednesday, with the other two still missing as of Friday.
The five have been identified by their first names as Khamla, Mued, Ee, Ing, and Laen, and were reportedly found in good health but exhausted from dehydration and lack of food.
It is not clear which of them was evacuated first, but the four remaining have been supplied with water, soft food, and foil blankets to keep them warm.
Their evacuations have been suspended until Saturday as they were not ready, said Chakkit Taengtang of Sai Than Association, one of the Thai rescue organisations at the scene.
In a video shot inside the cave on Thursday, villager Khamla could be heard telling Thai rescue diver Norrased Palasing: “I can’t go on. I don’t have any strength.”
Another villager Mued also delivered a message to his family, telling them: “Don’t worry mom, dad. I’m still strong, I’m still healthy. Tomorrow I will be home. I love you, mom and dad.”
Rescue teams pumped water out of the flooded cave’s passages on Friday, but a morning rainstorm complicated their work.
The villagers had reportedly entered the cave last week to look for valuable minerals before being trapped by flash flooding that blocked their way out.
One other villager escaped in time and alerted the authorities to the seven left behind.
Rescue teams from Laos and neighboring Thailand have been joined by Japanese and Malaysian colleagues, with Indonesian and French specialists reported to be coming to help with the operation.
To find the villagers, divers had to make their way through twisting, narrow, flooded passages with jagged walls in the dark.
The experts have had to weigh the risks of guiding survivors with no diving skills through zero-visibility water against the strategy of waiting for water levels to recede, said Gary Mitchell, who took part in the rescue of 12 schoolboys from a cave in Thailand in 2018.
“You can’t leave people underground too long without medical support, without proper food, sustenance, clean water … before their condition is going to deteriorate,” Mitchell, press officer for the South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team, told AP.
Follow STV News on WhatsApp
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
