One person has been safely brought out of a flooded cave in Laos, one of the rescuers says.
A group of five was found alive Wednesday, huddled on a rock in an underground chamber, in the central province of Xaisomboun, north of the capital Vientiane, more than a week after they went missing.
Four others remain inside and are awaiting assessment before evacuation, Kengkad Bongkawong wrote on Facebook late on Friday.
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The search for the two remaining missing persons will resume on Saturday.
Police officers and other emergency workers are waiting alongside several ambulances, ready to transport him and any injured villagers who are brought out of the cave.
Officials say that five men ventured into the cave over a week ago, drawn by the promise of gold deposits.
Malaysian diver Lee Kian Lie told CNN earlier that a key concern remaining among rescuers attempting to free villagers inside the cave in central Laos is bad visibility, as well as high water levels.
Rescue divers are teaching the villagers how to dive out of the cave themselves, as the space is narrow and the water levels are not coming down despite efforts to pump the water out, Lee said in an interview.
The group were trapped in a cave in Laos’ Xaisomboun province, awaiting rescue. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AAP
Lee added that villagers will hold onto the leg of a diver in front of them to help drag them through the cave system.
A torrential downpour caused flash flooding inside the cave system and sealed the men’s exit. Two others are thought to have entered the cave earlier, unconnected to the five, and are still missing.
There were pictures of elation as family of the found men were told they were alive.
Australian diver Josh Richards was one of the rescuers in attendance, he flew to the region on Thursday to assist.
Richards said the rescue mission will be “tricky”, given the narrow tunnels they will have to squeeze through, the potential of flooding and a lack of visibility he compared to “diving in coffee”.
The tunnel runs about 350m long and close to 30m of it is currently under water.
Laos cave rescuers will work in extremely tight conditions. Credit: 7NEWS
Richards, who previously put himself forward for the one-way Mars One space exploration mission, admitted he is “scared”.
“So this mine cave is quite unstable. It’s predominantly clay, which means the roof is not properly supported. It is partially flooded,” Richards said.
“The Laos authorities are currently trying to pump as much water out as they possibly can to try and reduce the risk but at this stage it sounds like there’s still a significant sump of water that we’ll need to try and get people out through in order to get them out of the cave.
“The cave is significantly smaller than the one that the soccer team was rescued from in Thailand, not just in length, but actually in physical size.
“The actual diameter of the cave that we’re going into is a major factor in why I’m being incorporated and why other divers from around Southeast Asia are being incorporated as well.”
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