As hundreds of thousands of men with experience of violence and post-traumatic stress disorders return to civilian life, they are meeting residents for whom death and destruction are far away.
Rescue workers and officials discuss plans during overnight operations outside the flooded cave in Longchaeng district, Xaysomboun province, as efforts continue to locate and safely bring out trapped villagers.
-- Photo: Rescue Volunteer for People / Vientiane Times - Asia News Network VIENTIANE : Rescuers are confident that the two men still missing inside the cave are still alive as search operations continue. Meanwhile, full-scale rescue efforts to extract the five previously located survivors were done successfully, with a focus on pumping water out of the cave.
“Concerning the two men still inside the cave whom we haven’t yet located, we are fairly confident that both may still be alive because there are no signs of death and there is no foul or stale odour, which is a positive sign,” President of Rescue Volunteer for People and the leader of field operations, Bounkham Luanglath, told the Vientiane Times. The latest update comes after rescue teams located five survivors on Wednesday, following days of difficult search operations inside the flooded cave where seven villagers became trapped on May 20.
Rescuers are now racing against time to reduce the water level inside the cave so the group can be brought out. Bounkham said rescue efforts currently involve large-scale water pumping after a high-capacity pump and a large generator were brought in to replace equipment that developed faults after continuous operation.
“Our plan is to pump out the water first because that will make evacuation much easier,” Bounkham said. “If we can successfully drain the water, passage through the cave should be fairly straightforward. But if pumping is ineffective, we may need to use divers to bring them out, which would require much more complicated planning. ” Medical personnel and rescue teams have been supplying food and monitoring the health of the five survivors since they were located.
Bounkham said authorities could start bringing the men out immediately if medical teams can confirm they are physically strong enough and water levels continue to fall. However, rescuers remain cautious because of unstable rocks and additional water flowing into the cave after overnight rain. Authorities have urged the public to follow verified information from official rescue teams to avoid misinformation and false fundraising activities linked to the incident.
A joint Lao-Thai rescue team, supported by international cave-diving experts including some of those involved in Thailand’s 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue, has been working around the clock to reach the survivors and locate the remaining two villagers. Outside the cave, anxious relatives and local residents continue to wait for more news, desperately hoping that the two other men will also be found alive.
Messages of support and encouragement have poured in from across Laos and neighbouring countries as many people follow the rescue operation and pray for the safe return of all those trapped inside. Bernama reported that 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. 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. Domestic and international medical personnel and rescue teams are providing first aid to the survivors in preparation for further treatment, said the report.
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