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Rescue Teams Halt Inside Search in Laos Cave After Rising Floods Make Entry Too Dangerous

Heavy monsoon rains have reduced vertical space inside the cave to about 30 centimetres, prompting teams to focus on external pumping to lower water levels.

Rescuers stop search for last two men lost in Laos cave
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The search for two missing in a Laos cave has been called off.

Overview

  • Rescuers announced on Saturday, June 6 that no one would be allowed back inside the semi‑submerged cave because unstable passages and rising water made further entry too risky.
  • Seven villagers became trapped after flash floods blocked the cave exit on May 20, and rescuers found and freed five of them between May 29 and May 30.
  • Teams cited very narrow tunnels, low oxygen, unstable clay and rockfall plus vertical space reduced to about 30 cm as the main safety barriers to continuing the underground search.
  • Operations will shift to external measures such as pumping water, digging at likely resurgence points and leaving food rations in the cave while conditions are monitored.
  • The multinational effort lost some specialist capacity after several foreign cave divers departed, and the incident highlights hazards of subsistence hunting and prospecting in porous karst terrain during the monsoon.