Rescue teams find five of seven trapped in Laos cave 

Rescue teams have recovered five of seven villagers who had been trapped for more than a week in a flooded cave in central Laos.

The quintet was found alive on Wednesday. Lao and Thai teams said that they were continuing the search for two others who remain missing.

“We’ve found 5 people alive and all safe. There are still 2 people we are searching for,” a Laotian volunteer rescue group said in a social media post.

“At 4:30 pm [09:30 GMT], we found our target. We found five people. We are looking for the other two,” added Thai rescuer Kengkach Bangkawong in a separate post.

Thai volunteer rescuer Chakrakrit Taengtung posted a video on social media showing him and the five rescued villagers all cheering.

The video suggested that they were in good health and good spirits as they raised their arms in the air ⁠and smiled.

The seven Lao nationals ⁠entered the cave in Xaisomboun province last week. Shortly afterwards, heavy rain and a landslide blocked their ⁠exit, according to a local volunteer group and state-run Lao Phattana News.

A ⁠Thai volunteer group joined the ⁠rescue operation on Sunday. The team included a diver who took part in the 2018 rescue of 12 boys and their ‌football coach from a flooded cave in northern Thailand, an operation that drew global attention and ‌involved divers from across the globe.

Videos shared online showed that reaching the cave’s entrance required a steep hike of roughly 4 kilometres (2.5 miles). The entrance is also steep and rocky, and barely wide enough for a single person to climb through.

There has been no official confirmation on why the villagers went into the cave. However, rescuer Bounkham Luanglath, from the Lao organisation Rescue Volunteer for People, said the cave was frequented by local residents looking for gold, even though authorities had repeatedly warned of safety concerns.