BANGKOK (dpa): Rescue teams in Laos have not yet begun a mission to recover five people trapped in a flooded cave, despite knowing their location.
The operation is considered extremely risky because of tight tunnels, high water levels, and an acute risk of collapse.
Hopes are meanwhile fading of finding two men who are still missing.
Rescuers have now searched around 95 per cent of the tunnel system but have so far found no trace of the two, Finnish cave diver Mikko Paasi told broadcaster ThaiPBS World on Friday.
"We don’t have many places left to look,” Paasi told Thai broadcaster PBS World. "The chances are very slim of locating these guys."
Paasi is considered one of the most experienced cave divers in the world and is supporting coordination of the mission in Laos. He also played a key role in the spectacular rescue of a youth football team from Thailand's Tham Luang cave in 2018.
There were no dry spots in the previously inaccessible areas of the cave where people could have survived for a week, Paasi said.
The group has been trapped for 10 days several hundred metres from the entrance after heavy rainfall flooded the gold mine and triggered a landslide. Colleagues who managed to escape raised the alarm.
The rescue is considered extremely dangerous. According to the divers, visibility in the tight tunnels is practically zero.
"When we are underwater and trying to look for them, we literally feel with our legs and arms,” he said. "You can’t see anything.” - dpa
