Rescuers stop search for last two men lost in Laos cave 

Search and rescue teams in Laos have stopped the search for two men who were stranded in a semi-submerged cave.

The search was called off on Saturday, a week after rescuers managed to find five other men who also got trapped in the caves on May 20 while they were hunting for bats for food and searching the area for gold.

One man was extracted by divers on May 29, and four were guided out the following day after water was pumped from a flooded cavern.

Despite intensive search by local and international teams from Finland, France, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan and Australia, the two remaining men could not be located.

Lee Kian Lie, a Malaysian cave diver who was a part of the operation, told the AFP news agency they “were so close” but “the water in the cave was already manageable, but the cave entrance started to become unstable.”

He said continuing the operation would be “high risk”, adding that the team will continue “to manage the water by pumping and digging at possible resurgence points to let the water flow out faster”.

“Perhaps a miracle will happen,” he said.

Thai lead rescuer Kengkad Bongkawong said in a post on Facebook on Saturday that “no one is allowed inside the cave” because “it is too risky for anyone to enter,” but water pumping operations would persist outside.

He said even though they do not know the current conditions of the two missing people, the best option is to reduce the water levels inside the cave.

Kengkad said they have placed food at various points if the missing people manage to find their way out.

He had earlier said rising rainwater flows had reduced the vertical space inside the cave to about 30cm (12in), half what rescuers worked in during the operation’s earlier phases.

“From today onwards, the rain will become progressively heavier,” he said.