First of five men found alive in flooded Laos cave rescued

The bedraggled man was led to safety by rescuers after nine days stranded in the cavern First of five men found alive in flooded Laos cave rescued First man rescued from flooded Laos cave after more than a week Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Two rescuers in dark blue diving gear, with one wearing a black helmet and the other a red one, hold the right arm of the rescued man, who is dark muddy clothes and has a headlight on. His left arm is being held by another rescuer to his left as they all emerge from the cave in darkness Image of a man in wet clothing emerging from a small cave hole The first of five men found alive after spending more than a week trapped inside a flooded cave in Laos has been freed. The group had been hunting for gold when they were cut off inside the cavern in an isolated part of the country after flash floods hit on 20 May. Five were discovered alive on Wednesday when rescue divers found them huddled together 300m (984ft) from the cave mouth. Two other men are still missing. On Friday one of the divers put a picture on Facebook showing a man being dragged to safety. The Thai rescue group added: "The first victim has been successfully rescued out of the cave." A handout photo made available by Metta Tham Kalasin Rescue shows Thai rescuers on a mission to free seven Laotians trapped in a flooded cave in Xaysomboun province, Laos, 25 May 2026. A rescuer places a protective helmet on the head of another rescuer Five people found alive after week trapped in flooded Laos cave The rescue in the remote mountain area of central Xaysomboun province has been a race against time. Thunderstorms had been predicted for Friday evening along with rain in 60 per cent of the region. Thai rescue team member Kengkard Bonggawong said on social media: "One person has got out of the cave safely. "We will assess the other four and we will hunt for the other two tomorrow." Footage of the five men shot on Wednesday showed them miserable and caked in mud, telling rescuers they were suffering chest pains and starving hungry. The rescue comes after experts had originally planned to pump out flood waters that were stopping the men from getting to safety. That plan initially failed and a last resort was discussed of teaching the trapped men how to scuba dive and swim out. It has not yet been disclosed exactly how the first man was brought to safety, but the rescuers say they will explain later. Metta Tham Kalasin Rescue workers use a pump to get water from the cave to higher ground to free the men An enormous rocky cavern fills the image with the centre showing the entrance to the cave and four rescuers dressed in blue outfits and helmets using a yellow pump hose, which stretches all the way to the bottom of the picture. A bright yellow light picks out the details of the craggy rocks inside the cave from where they are standing The trapped group's plight has captured the imagination of the international diving community and on Friday more help arrived. Specialist divers from Thailand, Indonesia, France and Australia landed in Laos to provide extra expertise. The rescue is similar to the case of the Thai youth football team, who were trapped in cave for 18 days in 2018. The rescue is similar to the case of the , who were trapped in cave for 18 days in 2018. Finnish diver Mikko Paasi was involved in that rescue and the current emergency in Laos. He told CBS News on Friday: "The environment is so hostile that anything can happen." : "The environment is so hostile that anything can happen." Rescuers trying to fix an orange pump onto one of the cave's entrances Rescuers race to free seven people trapped in flooded Laos cave Rescuers in Laos have found five villagers alive inside a flooded cave after they were trapped for a week. At least 82 people have been killed and two are missing after a gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China on Sunday, officials say. At least 82 people have been killed after a gas explosion at the Liushenyu mine in China. The search is continuing for a further two villagers who are still missing, rescuers say. A team of experts who helped free a teen football team from a Thai cave in 2018 are among the rescuers. Six tourists who drank bootleg alcohol in a Laos holiday town died from suspected methanol poisoning. Ten people linked to six deaths at a hostel in Laos are given suspended sentences and fines. People scrambled to safety as the ferry sank on the Mekong River, with a local woman and two children feared dead.