BANGKOK — Rescuers working at a flooded cave in Laos said on Friday they were trying to drain water out to help extricate five villagers who have been trapped there for more than a week.
An overnight rainstorm has complicated their efforts, they said. Meanwhile, searching continues for two more people who still haven’t been found. The villagers had reportedly entered the cave to look for valuable minerals.
Rescue experts from Laos and neighboring Thailand have been working together for the past week, making their way through twisting, narrow passages with jagged walls and flooded sections of the cave located in a rugged area in the central province of Xaisomboun, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital Vientiane.