Bangkok– Heavy rain threatens to delay the search for two people missing in a flooded cave in Laos on Sunday Five others were rescued People who were trapped underground for more than a week.
Finnish diver Mikko Pasi, one of the first international rescuers to reach the site, told The Associated Press that rain had flooded the cave up to the second chamber, preventing divers from entering the cave until pumps could lower the water level.
Seven villagers had reportedly entered the cave last week in search of valuable minerals, but were trapped in a flash flood, blocking their way out. Another villager escaped and alerted the authorities.
Rescue teams from Laos and neighboring Thailand have been working together for the past week at the site in rugged terrain in the central province of Zassomboon, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital Vientiane. Divers from countries like Finland, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, France and Australia also joined him.
Many rescue workers had previously participated in this complex incident 2018 cave rescue in northern Thailand Which saved 12 schoolchildren and their football coach from a flooded cave.
Malaysian diver Lee Kian Lee, who was taking part in the operation, told the AP on Sunday that the rescued people were being treated at a local hospital and were doing well.
“We talked to them about what the deeper part of the cave looks like. Based on the information we have, we will continue the search and maybe we will be able to reach the other two,” he said.
According to rescue workers, they have penetrated more than 200 meters into the cave and discovered five chambers in the system. The five people rescued so far were found in the fifth chamber.
Pasi told the AP that survivors said the fifth chamber contained a narrow crack that could be a passageway to a deeper part of the cave system.
“This was the only place we didn’t investigate in the mine where the two lost miners might still be,” he said during a video interview.
“Now there’s a theory that, through that little crack, it’s still going on, and there’s a sixth chamber, which now gives us hope that, if we can penetrate that little crack, we might be able to get to the sixth chamber and then see what’s in there.”
The five people who were rescued first found on wednesday. They were identified by their first names Khamla, Mued, Ee, Eng and Laen.
The first person was evacuated safely on FridayGuided through a narrow flooded passage by an expert diver. Rescue workers said the remaining four left the cave on Saturday when the water receded enough for them to climb out on their own.
Videos posted online Saturday by rescue workers at the scene showed emotional moments as people came out of the cave one by one. Some people fell to the ground at the entrance of the cave, and were embraced by a group of workers who were crying in joy. Moments later he was shown lying on a stretcher, wrapped in a foil blanket and wearing an oxygen mask, before being taken out of the site.
