VIENTIANE: Four more men trapped in a semi-submerged Laos cave for 10 days were freed on Saturday (May 30), rescuers said, after one was successfully brought to the surface a day earlier, but two remained missing.

Lee Kian Lie, a Malaysian rescue diver, told AFP via Messenger that the four were freed after water was pumped out of the cavern.

A video he took from the scene showed teams under a makeshift tent attending to four people lying on stretchers and covered with thermal blankets.

“Important they already out,” Lee said. He declined to speculate on the condition of the two who remained unaccounted for.

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The Thailand Rescue Diver Facebook page said in a post that “rescue officials were able to bring out four more people trapped” at about 3.10pm on Saturday.

“A total of five people have now been rescued, while two remain missing,” it said.

Seven men had been trapped in the cavern in a remote mountainous area of central Xaysomboun province since May 20, when flash floods stranded them as they searched for gold, early state media reports said.

They were trapped after heavy rains triggered flash flooding that blocked the exit of the cavern.

Five of the men were located alive on Wednesday, huddling in a narrow shaft around 300m from the cave mouth.

Rescuers guided a bedraggled and muddy man over unsteady ground to safety on Friday.

WATER PUMPED FROM CAVE

Rescue efforts had focused on pumping out the monsoon flood waters that trapped the men.

Rescuers had expressed optimism earlier on Saturday about their chances of freeing the four.

Lee, part of a team of specialist cave divers called in to assist, said after arriving at the scene that expectations were “getting more positive”, with the water being pumped out and supplies sent in.

There was no mention of the two who remained unaccounted for.

The Lao Saychai Foundation posted a video to its Facebook page on Saturday of the man rescued the day before, identified only as Meud, who said the two missing men had gone about 500m deeper into the cave than he had.

Asked whether he thought they were still alive, he said: “I’m afraid it’s too cold there.”

Footage filmed by rescue divers earlier in the week showed the five men, now rescued, looking muddy and despondent, complaining of chest pains and hunger pangs.

Thai rescue teams rehearsed extraction procedures outside the cave on Friday with stretchers, ropes and cables, according to images shared on social media.

A new team of specialist divers touched down in Laos later on Friday, including members from Thailand, France, Indonesia and Australia, according to Thai rescuers.

The emergency echoes the 2018 case of the Thai youth football team that spent 18 days trapped in a cave in Thailand’s north before a daring international rescue saved their lives.

Two divers involved in the retrieval of the 12 young footballers and their coach are working with Laotian volunteers after locals requested specialist personnel and equipment.