Rescue teams today reached five of the seven Laotians who have been trapped in a flooded gold mine in Laos’ Xaysomboun province for the past seven days.
Thai rescue worker Jakkrit Taengtang, a member of the front-line team participating in the operation, announced that they had located five survivors.
Jakkrit later showed footage from inside the mine to anxious relatives waiting at the site. It showed five workers wearing mining uniforms and headlamps, sitting on rocks surrounded by floodwater deep inside the mine.
The men appeared exhausted and weak from the ordeal, but none appeared to be suffering serious injury or illness, according to rescuers.
The workers were said to be extremely hungry after being trapped underground for several days.
Rescuers said all five men wept when rescue teams reached them. The sounds of their crying can be heard in the footage.
Relatives viewing the footage identified one of the men as their father, prompting emotional scenes and boosting morale among the rescue teams working around the clock to reach those still trapped.
Rescue officials are now preparing plans to extract the five from the mine safely, where difficult conditions, rising water and limited access have complicated operations.
The fate of the two other missing workers remains unclear and rescuers continue to search for them.
The seven became trapped after heavy rainfall flooded the mine on May 19-20th, trapping workers underground.
Thai rescue specialists, including divers and emergency response teams from the border region, joined Laotian authorities in the multinational rescue effort.
The operation has drawn comparisons to previous high-profile cave and mine rescue missions in Southeast Asia, with rescuers facing cramped, dangerous underwater passages, poor visibility and unstable conditions inside the flooded tunnels.
