May 25, 2026 / 8:18 AM EDT
/ CBS/AFP
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Cave rescue experts from Thailand who aided the dramatic 2018 retrieval of a youth football team joined efforts Monday to extract seven people trapped in a flooded cave in neighboring Laos, Laotian state media said.Seven Laotian villagers entered the cave in central Xaysomboun province, about 78 miles northeast of the capital Vientiane, on May 20, state-run Laophattana News said. They were searching for gold and were trapped inside the cave after heavy rain triggered flash flooding, blocking their exit, it added.Authorities and villagers have been working to pump water out of the cave, but rescue teams have not been able to reach the group."We still do not know whether there are any signs of life or if they are still alive," Bounkham Luanglat, president of a Laotian volunteer rescue association, told the French news agency AFP.
In this release Metta Tham Rescue Kalasin, rescuers work to reach seven people who have been trapped in a cave in Xaisomboun province, Laos, Monday, May 25, 2026.
