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Four more men trapped in semi-submerged Laos cave freed: rescuers

This screengrab made from handout video footage taken on May 29, 2026, and provided by Benz Norrased Palasing of Seascout Diving, shows a rescue team (foreground) training people (background) trapped in a semi-submerged cave how to use diving equipment before the first of them was freed, in central Xaysomboun province, northeast of the capital Vientiane. A rescue team freed on May 29, one of seven men trapped inside a semi-submerged cave in Laos for more than a week, the group working at the site said.
This screengrab made from handout video footage taken on May 29, 2026, and provided by Benz Norrased Palasing of Seascout Diving, shows a rescue team (foreground) training people (background) trapped in a semi-submerged cave how to use diving equipment before the first of them was freed, in central Xaysomboun province, northeast of the capital Vientiane. A rescue team freed on May 29, one of seven men trapped inside a semi-submerged cave in Laos for more than a week, the group working at the site said.HANDOUT / Benz Norrased Palasing / Seascout Diving / AFP
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Four more men trapped in a semi-submerged Laos cave for 10 days have been freed, rescuers said, after one was successfully brought to the surface a day earlier, but two remained missing.

"4 victim is out," Lee Kian Lie, a Malaysian rescue diver, told AFP via Messenger.

"Water level is lowered by pumping, so they able to come out," he said.

The Thailand Rescue Diver Facebook page said in a post that "rescue officials were able to bring out four more people trapped" at about 3:10 pm (0810 GMT) on Saturday.

This screengrab made from handout video footage taken on May 29, 2026, and provided by Benz Norrased Palasing of Seascout Diving, shows a rescue team (foreground) training people (background) trapped in a semi-submerged cave how to use diving equipment before the first of them was freed, in central Xaysomboun province, northeast of the capital Vientiane. A rescue team freed on May 29, one of seven men trapped inside a semi-submerged cave in Laos for more than a week, the group working at the site said.
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"A total of five people have now been rescued, while two remain missing," it said.

Seven men had been trapped in the cavern in a remote mountainous area of central Xaysomboun province since May 20, when flash floods stranded them as they searched for gold, state media reports said.

Five of the men were located alive on Wednesday, huddling in a narrow shaft around 300 metres (984 feet) from the cave mouth.

Rescuers guided a bedraggled and muddy man over unsteady ground to safety on Friday.

The seven were trapped after heavy rains triggered flash flooding that blocked the exit of the cavern.

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