A specialist diver involved in the rescue operation said Rescuers were “racing against time” to extract seven people trapped in a flooded cave for a week in Laos. “If all the possible safety matters can be met today, we are considering a final search dive into the last chamber to locate the lost 7,” Finnish diver Mikko Paasi said in a social media post on Wednesday.
“We are racing against time as today marks the 7th day and the way in is full of challenges,” he added. Paasi was one of the rescuers who aided the dramatic 2018 retrieval of a youth football team from a flooded cave in Thailand.
Laotian state media said this week that Seven Laotian villagers entered the cave in central Xaysomboun province, about 125 kilometres northeast of the capital Vientiane, on May 20.
The Laotian were searching for gold but instead got trapped inside the cave which Paasi called an “abandoned gold mine” after heavy rain triggered flash flooding, blocking their exit.
Authorities and villagers have worked to pump water out, but rescue teams were not able to reach the group, state media said on Monday.
By Wednesday morning, the water level in the cave had dried up considerably with rescuers continuing to pump it out, state-run Lao Economic Daily said on Wednesday.
A Laotian rescue group said Laotian rescuers, local officials and villagers gathered outside the cave on Wednesday morning before rescue operations resumed to perform a traditional spiritual ceremony, offering chickens and rice alcohol to sacred spirits believed to protect the mountain and rescuers.
Images shared by rescue teams on social media showed the offerings laid beside the cave entrance.
The cave system, located in a remote area, extends deep underground, with multiple levels and narrow passages.