Rescuers have located five of seven people trapped for a week in a flooded cave in Laos; two remain missing as teams navigate narrow, water-filled passages amid persistent rains, with extraction still to come.
Thai divers who helped in the 2018 Tham Luang rescue have joined the effort to free seven people trapped for five days in a flooded cave in Laos; rescuers must navigate tiny, mud-filled passages (about 60 cm tall tunnels and 50 cm gaps), pump out water, and lay ropes as persistent rain and sediment hinder progress, with a location roughly 40 metres in above water, while authorities weigh possible links to artisanal gold mining in Laos’s booming alluvial mining sector, which faces environmental concerns and a government ban on new mining permits.