Spanish
Bangkok.- The five miners located after being trapped in a Laos mine have been rescued, members of the operation reported this Saturday, who continue with the search for two other missing persons.
"In total, the five people who were found have come out of the cave safe and sound," said Thai rescuer Kengkard Bongkawong in a Facebook message, without offering further details of the operation.
The rescued appear smiling, with their faces stained with mud and covered by thermal blankets in the provisional camp established at the exit of the cave, as can be seen in the images published by the rescuers.
On May 20, a group of seven miners, originally from the central Laotian province of Xaisomboun, entered a cave near the city of Long Chaeng in search of gold deposits, a frequent activity in this region of the country, but were trapped when the cavity flooded due to heavy rain and landslides blocked the exit.
On Wednesday, when they had been missing for a week, rescuers located five of the seven miners in a chamber inside the cave, while the whereabouts of the other two people are still unknown.
Reco
After meticulously planning and preparing the rescue operation, the teams managed last night to bring the first of the miners out of the cave, who, according to the rescuers, is in good health after being examined by doctors.
This Saturday the operation managed to extract around 15:10 local time (6:10 GMT) the remaining four, some of whom were able to leave the cave on their own feet amid the cheers and hugs of joy among the rescuers.
«The 5 miners are safe and in good condition!», publishes the Finnish diver Mikko Paasi, who is part of the operation and who from inside the cave instructed the miners on how to use the diving equipment.
The biggest challenge of the rescue mission was in a section about 30 meters long due to the narrow flooded passage that the divers were traversing on their stomachs.
Despite the happiness of the moment, rescuers point out that there are still two people who have not been located.
"Continue the search operation," recalled Kengkard, who this morning explored another mining complex near the cave in case he found a chimney or another way to access the areas of the cavity that still remain to be explored.
The rescue mission in Laos is reminiscent of the media-covered operation that saved the 13 members of the "Wild Boars" youth soccer team in the Tham Luang cave in Thailand in 2018, a mission that attracted international attention and was portrayed in films, documentaries, and books, and in which two of the rescuers collaborating in the current mission participated.
