PHNOM PENH (Bernama): Rescuers are grappling with narrow passages, zero visibility, and worsening weather conditions in search of two miners still missing in a flooded cave in central Laos.
A Malaysian diver involved in the multinational high-risk operation said the cave's tight and hazardous conditions have made efforts to locate the remaining miners particularly challenging.
"It is not easy to navigate inside the cave because of the restrictions and narrow passages with zero visibility.
"The passage is tight and only one person can enter the cave at a time,” Sabah-based Lee Kian Lie, a technical cave diver who joined the international rescue team, told Bernama from the site of the incident.
A seven-member gold mining expedition turned into a tragedy when the miners were trapped inside a cave since May 20, after heavy rain flooded the area and choked their exit passage.
Local and international rescuers launched a massive search operation, pumping water from the natural limestone cave in remote Phonxay village in Xaysomboun Province, central Laos, in an effort to reach the trapped miners.
Located about 125 kilometres from Vientiane, Xaysomboun is known for its limestone caves.
Rescuers located five of the seven trapped miners on Wednesday. One was brought out safely on Friday, while four others emerged from the cave on Saturday. Two remain missing.
The miners were trapped about 300 metres underground, which presented a formidable challenge for the rescuers.
"So far, I consider this a successful rescue operation. None of the victims are hurt and none of the rescuers are injured despite being in a dangerous passage.
"And all four (miners) managed to come out of the cave by themselves today. We have been working all night long to save them.
"The past few days, we have been supplying them with energy bars and boiled rice water according to the doctors’ advice,” said Lee, a Tawau native who has been specialising in cave exploration for nearly 13 years.
Lee said the experts are now mulling the next direction to search for the missing victims.
Landlocked Laos is prone to natural hazards such as earthquakes, floods, tropical storms, landslides, and droughts. -- BERNAMA
