Thai-Lao joint rescue teams are racing against time to save seven villagers trapped inside a cave in Sayaboury Province, Lao PDR, for nearly a week after heavy rains caused flash flooding that blocked the exit. Some parts of the cave are as narrow as 50 centimeters wide.
Updates on the search for seven missing Lao villagers trapped inside a cave in Sayaboury Province, central Lao People's Democratic Republic, since Tuesday, 19 May 2020 GMT+7, report that rescue teams from both Laos and Thailand are working intensely against time to navigate the floodwaters and reach the victims.
Reports state that the trapped group consists of local villagers who entered the cave to search for gold and hunt wildlife. Suddenly, heavy rain caused flash floods and a landslide that completely blocked the cave’s entrance and exit. One villager managed to escape before the cave entrance was submerged and alerted authorities, but the fate of the other seven remains unknown.
Bounkham Luanglad, head of the Lao Volunteer Rescue Unit, told the Associated Press that the cave system is long and deep underground with narrow passages where locals often secretly dig for gold, despite government warnings about safety. Rescue teams say the main challenge is the cave’s narrowness, with some parts only about 50 centimeters wide, forcing divers to crawl through muddy, nearly ceiling-high floodwaters under difficult conditions.
Videos on the Facebook page of the Metta Tham Kalasin Rescue Unit show Thai rescuers arriving at the site last Sunday, working around the clock to install pumps to drain water from the cave and clearing rocks at the entrance to access deeper parts. However, rising water levels due to ongoing rain remain a major obstacle.
Although no signs of life have yet been detected from the survivors, Mr. Kengkat Bungkwang, from the Metta Tham Rescue Team and a member of the historic 2018 mission that saved 13 youth footballers and their coach from the Wild Boars Academy trapped in Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai, posted on his personal Facebook that rescuers are now very close to the area where the villagers are believed to be trapped, estimating less than 20 meters remain.
The 2018 Tham Luang rescue in Thailand was a global operation involving over 10,000 experts worldwide and inspired numerous films and documentaries such as "Thirteen Lives" and "The Rescue." The involvement of specialists from that mission has raised hope for the current rescue in Lao PDR.
However, the Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs has declined to comment to the media. Lao PDR is a one-party communist state with no official opposition, and the government tightly controls the release of information.