Five villagers found alive after more than a week trapped in flooded Laos cave; two still missing

Rescue teams located the five survivors on a rock surrounded by floodwater deep inside the cave, roughly 120 kilometers north of Vientiane in the remote Longcheng district. Video footage taken by Finnish diver Mikko Paasi, who was part of the operation, showed rescuers asking the villagers for their names and whether they were ill; the villagers responded that they were not ill but felt weak and very hungry, CNN reported.

Bounkham Luanglath of the Lao rescue organization Rescue Volunteer for People told the Associated Press that the five were safe and alive. "I'm still shaking. Our team made it happen," he said in a voice message. Thai rescue diver Kengkad Bongkawong posted on Facebook at 4:30 p.m. local time: "5 people have been found safe. The search continues for the remaining 2."

The rescue itself posed significant physical challenges. According to the Metta Tham Kalasin Command and Control Center, divers navigated a 340-meter tunnel to reach the survivors, with some sections as narrow as roughly 23 inches — forcing at least one rescuer to remove his equipment to squeeze through, CNN reported. Reaching the cave entrance required a steep, roughly 4-kilometer hike on foot over mountainous terrain, with heavy rain continuing to hamper operations, according to AP.