BANGKOK (AP) — Rescue workers in Laos Saturday worked to safely free the villagers found alive in a flooded cave after being trapped there for 10 days, a day after the first of the five survivors was safely evacuated.
Rescuers hope to extract the remaining four men later Saturday after saying they were not ready to be taken out on Friday. They are working to drain more water out of the cave as they continue to search for two people who are still missing.
“One person has made it out safely, and we will not stop until the remaining four make it home too,” Norrased Palasing, a Thai cave diver participating in the operation, wrote Saturday on his Facebook page.
According to rescuers, it took about 30 minutes to evacuate the first survivor from the cave on Friday. Videos showed the moment he emerged from the water alongside a diver, catching his breath before struggling to crawl through a narrow, flooded passage and rising unsteadily to his feet. As rescuers helped him away from the tunnel, one could be heard warning others to be careful because his hands were injured. He was then wrapped in a foil blanket and helped into a seated position.
Another video showed the man getting out from the cave’s entrance with a lamp strapped to his forehead. He was walking unsteadily with the assistance of two men, who handed him over to other team members amid a waiting crowd.
The villagers had reportedly entered the cave last week to look for valuable minerals before being trapped by flash flooding that blocked their way out. One other villager escaped in time and alerted the authorities to the seven left behind.
Five of them were found alive Wednesday. They were identified by their first names as Khamla, Mued, Ee, Ing and Laen. It’s unclear which of them was evacuated Friday.
The men had been supplied with water, soft food and foil blankets to keep them warm, although videos shot inside the cave suggested that their conditions continued to deteriorate.
Rescue teams from Laos and neighboring Thailand were joined by Japanese and Malaysian colleagues. Indonesian, French and Australian specialists also reportedly arrived at the site in a rugged area in the central province of Xaisomboun, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Vientiane.
Several of them had taken part in the complicated 2018 cave rescue in northern Thailand of 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach.
In a video shot Friday, just about an hour before the evacuation of the first man began, Thai rescuer Kengkaj Bongkawong of the Metta Tham Rescue Kalasin detailed the challenge they are facing in the operation.
The team has set up a station in a large chamber inside the cave, accessible only by navigating more than 200 meters of twisting, narrow, flooded passages with jagged walls. From there, divers need to dive through a flooded tunnel about 30 meters before reaching the trapped men.
“To dive in a cave, there are issues with the temperature, narrow areas, control of movement, and managing the panic of the survivor, which will be difficult, but we have to do it,” Kengkaj said.
There is a significant risk for the team of guiding the survivors without diving skills through zero-visibility water.
A video showed Thai diver Norrased and Finnish diver Mikko Paasi teaching the men how to use diving gear, including breathing techniques underwater.
“All the way, breathe through your mouth only. Do not ever breathe with your nose, do you understand?” Norrased said during the session.
Rescuers are also preparing to search for the two villagers who remain missing.
Kengkaj said the team plans to explore an area deeper inside the cave, about 20 to 25 meters beyond where the survivors were found. However, he cautioned that the section is heavily flooded.
“That area has a lot of water. The water goes there because it’s even deeper than this place,” he said.
