Indonesia Including a Specialist Rescue Team to Evacuate 2 People Trapped for 10 Days in a Cave in Laos

Illustration. Cave explorer. (Lê Tân-Unsplash)

JAKARTA - A team of specialist rescuers from a number of countries has descended to the location to rescue seven people trapped in a cave in Xaisomboun Province, Laos.

The victim who was about to be rescued is now left with two people who have been trapped in the cave in the remote province in Southeast Asia for about 10 days.

Reuters reported on Friday, May 29, that the SAR team consisted of French citizens, Robin Cuesta; from Indonesia, Audita Harsono; Japan, Yoshitaka Isaji; Thailand, Naruchit Kiatmaneesri; and from Australia, Josh Richards.

The information was deployed by the specialist rescue team from the Thai volunteer group.

Extreme sports enthusiasts do caving or underground cave exploration. (Adrian Mag-Unsplash)

The group explained that the incident began when seven Lao citizens who wanted to find gold entered a cave in Xaisomboun Province on Tuesday, May 19.

Immediately, heavy rain at the location triggered flash floods that blocked the gold seekers' path out of the cave.

The rescue operation was then carried out by exploring the ventilation hole above the cave. Hopefully, it can identify possible access points and find the seven people trapped.

On Sunday, May 24, a rescue team from Thailand arrived at the location to assist in the operation.

According to the rescue team, divers have explored about 100 meters into the narrow and flooded cave.

They believe the victims may have been trapped about 30 meters outside the furthest point that has been accessed. Efforts to pump water out of the cave in search efforts were also carried out.

A day later, five victims were successfully evacuated safely.

"We have found 5 people alive and all are safe. There are still 2 people we are looking for," a rescue group from Laos, Rescue Volunteer for People, said in a post on social media.

Illustration. Cave explorer. (Joshua Sortino-Unsplash)

The rescue team at the location raced against time to bring out the victims considering that the cave where the search was taking place had been flooded for a week.

A cave diver from Thailand who was involved in this mission, Kengkard Bongkawong, in his post on Facebook on Friday said that the safety of the two people who were still trapped in the cave waiting to be evacuated was getting worse.

"This rescue operation is very challenging, because it involves moving them through narrow corridors that stretch hundreds of meters and require underwater diving," he said.