Laos Frees Four Men in Flooded Cave Rescue After 10 Days

Four men were freed on Saturday in a cave rescue in Laos after 10 days trapped inside a flooded cave in central Xaysomboun province. The men came out at about 15:10 local time (08:10 GMT), a day after another man was rescued and after specialists from four countries arrived to help.

Xaysomboun Province Cave Rescue

The four men were among seven villagers who entered the narrow tunnels on 20 May in search of gold, then were cut off when flash floods hit the remote mountain area. Rescue teams had found only five of the trapped villagers alive by Wednesday, leaving two men still missing after the operation moved into its final phase.

The cave system extends deep underground, and some chambers measured only about 50cm wide. That detail shaped the rescue plan from the start, because experts had first intended to pump out flood water to open a route to safety.

Thailand, Indonesia, France and Australia

That pumping plan failed, pushing rescuers toward a last-resort option: teaching the trapped men how to scuba dive and swim out. Specialist divers from Thailand, Indonesia, France and Australia arrived in Laos on Friday to provide expertise for that effort.

The sequence of rescues left two men missing after Saturday’s operation, while five villagers had already been found alive earlier in the week. The operation now rests on whether rescuers can reach the remaining men in the same flooded, narrow system that kept the others underground for 10 days.