XAISOMBOUN, Laos — An international rescue team has successfully extracted four more gold miners from a flooded cave in central Laos, bringing the total number of survivors freed to five after they spent 10 days trapped underground.
The breakthrough occurred on Saturday, May 30, 2026, when high-powered pumping operations successfully lowered the water levels inside the treacherous cave network, allowing the remaining four located survivors to safely exit alongside elite rescue divers.
Okay News reports that the successful operation follows a highly dangerous “trust-me dive” executed on Friday to rescue the first miner. Lead rescue diver Mikko Paasi, a veteran of the famous 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue in Thailand, explained that the first survivor had to be physically “sandwiched” between divers through completely blind, muddy waters with zero prior scuba training.
The group of artisanal miners initially entered the abandoned gold mine in Xaisomboun province on May 20 to prospect for ore before sudden monsoon rains triggered flash floods, sealing their exit. While five of the seven men have been recovered caked in mud, wearing oxygen masks, and wrapped in emergency foil blankets, two miners remain missing deep within the tight, unmapped subterranean shafts. International teams have pledged to continue the search, though experts warn further exploration faces a high risk of structural collapse and completely flooded, impassable chambers.
