Rescue teams in Laos successfully extracted the first of seven men trapped for over a week inside a partially flooded cave at around 8pm last night local time.
The first person brought out was named ‘Mued’, aged 23.
The men, who were searching for gold when flash floods trapped them on May 19-20, had been stranded for nine days.
Rescuers located five of the men alive on Wednesday, huddling in a narrow shaft roughly 300 metres from the cave's entrance. Two members of the group remain missing.
The Thai organisation Metta Tham Kalasin Rescue confirmed the first extraction on Facebook, sharing an image of a muddy, exhausted survivor being guided across uneven terrain.
The rescue operation remains precarious and complex. "It is extremely challenging, as it involves moving them through narrow passages stretching hundreds of metres and requires the use of specialised SCUBA equipment to get through the flooded sections, noting that the survivors' health has been deteriorating.
With five survivors accounted for and two still missing, an expert international team of volunteer divers, including those from France, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Australia, is en route to join the operation.
Teams plan to continuously assess the remaining four survivors while resuming the search for the two still unaccounted for.
Emotional video, captured by Thai volunteer Norrased Palasing on Thursday, shows survivors crying with relief upon being discovered on a deep cave ledge.
In the video, Norrased reassured the trapped men that food was on the way, while teams worked non-stop to pump the floodwater out.
One survivor, identifying himself as ‘Lin’, sent a poignant message to his family, saying:
“Don’t worry about me, mum. The rescuers are here. I’m safe now... In a few days I’ll be out.”
Outside the cave, Thai teams spent Thursday rehearsing complex extraction procedures using ropes, cables, and stretchers, but the weather threaten to hamper again mission.
The Laos meteorology office forecast heavy thunderstorms for yesterday afternoon and evening, with rainfall expected to cover 60% of Xaysomboun province.
Heavy rain earlier in the week had already washed more mud and water into the cave system, leading logistics staff to warn that operations could stretch over several more days.
The gruelling conditions are taking their toll on the rescue crews, with local media reporting severe exhaustion among them as they continue to pull 7-to-10-hour shifts carrying heavy oxygen tanks and gear through the cave.
The crisis carries strong echoes of the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue, when a youth football team was saved after 18 days trapped in northern Thailand.
Lending invaluable expertise to the Laotian volunteers are two veteran divers from that historic rescue.
One is Finnish diver Mikko Paasi, who warned on Wednesday that teams are "racing against time" to get the remaining men out safely.
