Cave divers race to free 7 trapped underground in Laos as conditions worsen. What to know

(CNN) — A dangerous operation to rescue seven villagers trapped in a flooded cave for a week continues to unfold in a mountainous region of Laos, where experts are trying to beat bad weather and deteriorating conditions that are putting multiple lives at risk.

Specialist cave divers, who’ve been squeezing through narrow, muddy tunnels at the site in the central Laotian province of Xaisomboun, say they’re getting closer to the villagers, who are believed to be inside an underground cavern.

Rescuers told CNN that more than 100 people had joined the risky operation – including 15 experienced divers and experts who helped in the dramatic 2018 cave rescue of a young soccer team in Thailand.

Here’s what to know:

What happened?

The villagers went into the cave last Wednesday in search of gold, but heavy rain triggered flash flooding which blocked the exit, the Associated Press reported, citing Laos and Thai rescue teams.

The villagers are believed to be trapped on “an elevated ledge inside the cave that benefits from continuous airflow,” state-run Lao News Agency reported Tuesday.

Thai diver Kengkad Bongkawong told CNN that rescuers are working with a map that they believe is highly accurate, and that the villagers are in the “safest spot” inside the cave.

“That’s why I believe, given the geography and the living conditions of the victims, if they are in that specific area, their chances of survival are very high – very high,” said Bongkawong, who also took part in the operation to rescue the Thai soccer team in 2018.

What are the risks?

Finnish diver Mikko Paasi is among the team of divers navigating the Laos tunnel and posted video to social media of himself squeezing between jagged rocks.

“We are still in high spirits that we will find the miners alive as they entered the mine with resources to stay sub-terrain for several days,” he wrote on Facebook Wednesday.

But he also spoke of the treacherous conditions he had encountered so far, starting with a four kilometer jungle hike to even get to the site.

“Inside the mine, you have to navigate hundreds of meters of constant restrictions, flood waters, collapse hazards and high risk of contaminated air quality,” said Paasi, who was also involved in the rescue of the Thai boys in 2018.

Arnold Dix, a geologist and disaster rescuer who led the operation to save 41 Indian miners from a collapsed tunnel in 2023, warned that rescues of this kind are inherently risky.

He said after seven days inside the cave, the risk of illness among those trapped is rising. Conditions are also very difficult for rescuers, who would be wary of becoming caught out by a rush of water inside the tunnels, he said.

“For the rescuers there at the moment, there in Laos, my heart goes out to them. I hope they succeed, but I also hope they don’t get killed in the process,” Dix told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Wednesday.

How complicated is the rescue mission?

To reach the villagers, rescuers will have to navigate a 340-meter (1,115 feet) tunnel, according to the Metta Tham Kalasin (MTK) Command and Control Center, one of the groups coordinating the rescue.

Some parts of the tunnel are just 60 centimeters (23 inches) wide, so rescuers will need to crawl to get closer to the trapped group, the command center posted to Facebook. Images showed cables laid through a gap between the rocks to guide rescuers to its lower reaches.

Bongkawong described the natural entry point to the cave as a path that plunges downward at a 45-degree angle.

“It is so narrow that you have to tilt sideways, duck low, and crawl flat on your stomach to get through,” the seasoned diver explained.

He added that entering and exiting the cave must be carefully coordinated as there is no space for rescuers to cross one another.

“The cave does have air, but bad air was also abundant,” rescue group MTK said on Facebook after rescue efforts paused on Tuesday, adding that an air line system had been set up to feed fresh air into the tunnel.

Helmets, breathing masks and gas monitors are being used to monitor the level of oxygen and toxic gases in the narrow cave system.

Video filmed inside the cave, posted on the Facebook page of a Thai rescuer, showed rescuers moving in dark caverns almost filled with water. Efforts are being made to pump water out of the tunnels to make them easier to access.

Outside the cave, a rope team was dispatched on rappelling mission to scan for possible routes to reach the villagers from four shafts that were spotted on the mountain above the cave, the group said.

CNN has reached out to Laos’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment. The Southeast Asian country is a one-party communist state that closely monitors the release of information.

The weather condition is crucial. Why?

The rescue operation is unfolding in a mountainous area near Long Tieng in Xaisomboun province, known for its sweeping valleys and rich mineral reserves.

The cave is a limestone structure, located in the middle of the foothills of a mining project. A combination of underground waterways and “complex meteorological structures” add to the danger during the rainy season, state-run media Lao Phattana News reported.

Rescue group MTK called the conditions “fortunate” Tuesday given the absence of rain for two straight days despite the monsoon season.

But the weather could worsen, with on-and-off storms during afternoon and evening hours over the next couple of days, according to CNN Weather.

How were the villagers discovered?

Authorities were alerted to the trapped villagers by a member of the group who managed to escape before the exit was blocked, AP reported, citing Bounkham Luanglath, who leads Laos’ Rescue Volunteer for People.

Bongkawong, the Thai diver, said the man had escaped by wading through the water, effectively forcing his way out, something only a local familiar with the area would know to do.

“We call it ‘boo’ out,” Bongkawong said, revealing that there is a specific term in the local dialect for the action the man took.

While every cave rescue carries its own unique risks, the experts leading this operation, near Long Tieng, have had extensive experience. Some were involved in the treacherous extraction of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a Thai cave in 2018.

In that instance, the boys became trapped deep inside the Tham Luang Nang Nona cave system in the northern Thai province of Chiang Rai for 18 days when a downpour flooded the tunnels.

A massive rescue operation featuring experienced divers from Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States saw the boys removed one by one through the cave network in a heroic mission that captivated audiences around the world.

Comparing the two operations, Bongkawong said: “Tham Luang was difficult to search; this cave is difficult to access.”

The-CNN-Wire
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