The first of five men found alive after spending more than a week trapped inside a flooded cave in Laos has been freed.
The group had been hunting for gold when they were cut off inside the cavern in an isolated part of the country after flash floods hit on 20 May.
Five were discovered alive on Wednesday when rescue divers found them huddled together 300m (984ft) from the cave mouth. Two other men are still missing.
On Friday one of the divers put a picture on Facebook showing a man being dragged to safety. The Thai rescue group added: “The first victim has been successfully rescued out of the cave.”
The rescue in the remote mountain area of central Xaysomboun province has been a race against time.
Thunderstorms had been predicted for Friday evening along with rain in 60 per cent of the region.
Thai rescue team member Kengkard Bonggawong said on social media: “One person has got out of the cave safely.
“We will assess the other four and we will hunt for the other two tomorrow.”
Footage of the five men shot on Wednesday showed them miserable and caked in mud, telling rescuers they were suffering chest pains and starving hungry.
The rescue comes after experts had originally planned to pump out flood waters that were stopping the men from getting to safety.
That plan initially failed and a last resort was discussed of teaching the trapped men how to scuba dive and swim out.
It has not yet been disclosed exactly how the first man was brought to safety, but the rescuers say they will explain later.
EPA
EPAThe trapped group’s plight has captured the imagination of the international diving community and on Friday more help arrived.
Specialist divers from Thailand, Indonesia, France and Australia landed in Laos to provide extra expertise.
The rescue is similar to the case of the Thai youth football team, who were trapped in cave for 18 days in 2018.
Finnish diver Mikko Paasi was involved in that rescue and the current emergency in Laos.
He told CBS News on Friday: “The environment is so hostile that anything can happen.”
