VIENTIANE: Rescuers called off their search Saturday (June 6) for two men trapped in a semi-submerged cave in Laos for more than two weeks, as the site became unstable and survival hopes faded.
Seven villagers became trapped in the cave in central Xaysomboun province on May 20 when flash floods blocked their exit as they hunted bats for food and searched for gold in old mining areas, state media said.
Rescue teams located five of the men alive a week later, with one extracted by divers on May 29 and four guided out the following day after water was pumped from the flooded cavern.
The two others remained missing despite intensive searching by Laos and international rescue teams.
Lee Kian Lie, a Malaysian cave diver who joined the operation on May 28, told AFP it was at an "end" as the risks of continuing outweighed the slim chances of the men's rescue.
"We were so close," Lee said. "The water in the cave was already manageable, but the cave entrance started to become unstable."
"To continue the operation is high risk," he added. "They will continue to manage the water by pumping and digging at possible resurgence points to let the water flow out faster. Perhaps a miracle will happen."
"Everyone tried. We tried. I am sorry for the family."
Lee described the mission as the most dangerous rescue operation he had experienced, saying the team faced flooding, unstable cave structures, tight restrictions and poor air quality.
Thai lead rescuer Kengkad Bongkawong said in a social media post on Saturday that "no one is allowed inside the cave" because "it is too risky for anyone to enter", but water pumping operations would persist outside.
"Even though we don't know the current condition of those two individuals, reducing the water level inside the cave is the best approach right now," he posted on Facebook.
"There are still food rations and survival supplies that we have placed at various points inside the cave. If miracles exist, I believe their expertise will guide them out safely."
Kengkad had earlier said rising rainwater flows had reduced the vertical space inside the cave to around 30 centimetres (12 inches) -- half what rescuers worked in during the operation's earlier phases.
"From today onwards, the rain will become progressively heavier," he warned in his Saturday post.
By Friday, key cave specialists including Finnish diver Mikko Paasi and Japan's Yoshitaka Isaji had already left the site.
The five survivors were discovered huddled in a narrow passage around 300 metres (984 feet) from the cave's entrance, and said the two missing men had entered the site separately. - AFP
