Rescue teams in Laos continued to work on Thursday to free five gold miners found alive in a flooded cave and to locate two others still missing after more than a week underground.
The men, discovered on Tuesday, had been supplied with food and medicine, the Lao rescue organization Rescue Volunteer for People said. Rescue efforts to bring them out of the cave could begin later on Thursday.
The miners were reported to be exhausted and hungry but in stable condition. Rescue workers continued pumping water from the cave to make escape routes passable and were also assessing the risk of further flooding.
Local media reported on Thursday morning that the two other missing men had also been found alive, though there was no immediate official confirmation.
The men have been trapped since May 19 in a cave in Longchaeng district in the northern province of Xaisomboun. Ten villagers had entered the cave in search of gold when heavy rain suddenly flooded the site and a landslide blocked the exit. Three escaped and alerted authorities, while seven remained trapped.
Media reports said the miners had carried enough supplies to survive for several days. Videos filmed by rescuers inside the cave appeared to show at least two men wearing functioning headlamps.
Rescuers have spent days crawling through extremely narrow passages and diving through tight underwater sections. It was not immediately clear how exactly the gold miners would be brought out of the cave.
Medical teams were on standby to treat the men once they were brought out, the rescue organization said.
