Five of the seven gold prospectors trapped for more than a week inside a flooded cave in Laos have been found alive, emergency teams said on Wednesday.
Rescue workers found the men safe and well after days of searching, the Lao organization Rescue Volunteer for People and the Thai rescue unit MTK said.
Search efforts for two other missing men were continuing.
Videos shared on social media showed rescue workers hugging each other and shouting with joy, with some breaking down in tears.
The rescue teams later said the five men would remain inside the cave for the time being as further preparations are made. "We will send food and medicine to treat the five people initially," a statement on Facebook said.
The Laotian Times newspaper reported that the survivors are hungry and exhausted but in a stable condition.
A total of 10 men entered a cave in the mountainous Longchaeng district of Xaisomboun province on May 19 to dig for gold. It lies about 130 kilometres north-east of the capital Vientiane.
While they were inside, the cave flooded after heavy rainfall and partially collapsed. Three workers managed to escape and alert the authorities, but the seven others were trapped.
It had previously been reported that the rescue teams had worked their way to within 20 metres of the men's presumed location, crawling through extremely narrow gaps and diving through underwater passages.
Water levels then dropped significantly by Wednesday, the Thai Enquirer news portal quoted the operation's Thai coordinator Kengkaj Bangkaowong as saying.
Kengkaj later wrote on Facebook that the teams had reached their destination in the afternoon and found the five men.
The Lao government requested assistance from Thailand, whose emergency services gained international recognition during the 2018 rescue of a youth football team trapped inside the Tham Luang cave complex.
Rescue teams from Thailand arrived in the northern province of Xaisomboun over the weekend. Finnish cave diver Mikko Paasi and his Thai colleague Norrased Palasing, who were also involved in the spectacular Tham Luang rescue, are supporting the mission.
According to Kengkaj, the rescuers had previously installed additional oxygen cylinders and safety systems in case of further flooding. Teams were also attempting to improve the poor air quality in the cave using ventilation pipes, while other rescue workers were searching outside the cave for alternative access routes via vertical rock shafts.
