Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
A team of specialist divers said they pulled one man from a flooded cave in central Laos on Friday, as four more people remained trapped with two others still missing.
Seven Lao nationals had entered the cave in Xaisomboun province to prospect for gold, but their exit was blocked, leaving them trapped for more than a week.
It took about 37 minutes to bring him through the passages to safety, the team said in a Facebook post.
Rescuers said they had stopped operations for the night as they evaluated the remaining four people they had found, and planned to resume the search for the final two.
A team of volunteers from neighbouring Thailand joined the rescue efforts on Sunday and further reinforcements were due to arrive on Friday, including from France, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Australia, the group posted on Facebook.
Kengkard Bongkawong, a Thai cave diver involved in the mission, said in a Facebook post on Friday that the health of the survivors was deteriorating as they awaited evacuation.
